Fate's Circumference
by Silent Architect
Summary: Five mysterious objects have crashed across the land, plunging Ooo into confusion and chaos. When the craters are found to be empty, and strange events begin to plague the various kingdoms, it's up to Finn and the rest of the gang to uncover the truth of what atrocity is about to befall their home, and what-or who-is responsible.
1. Impact

Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time or any elements it includes.

* * *

-Impact-

A peaceful stroll through the grasslands could do wonders for a person's spiritual cleansing. The wide open plains and gentle wind brought about an atmosphere of stillness, one that, simply put, relaxed the mind and gave time to think deeply and remove any bad vibes from within. Although, this was purely unintentional by Finn's standards. He just liked how the wind felt against his face.

The fifteen year-old human was casually pacing over the pleasant hills of his native environment, pack on his back and dragging what appeared to be a massive power cable under one arm. If the scraping noise the item produced wasn't enough to discourage a quiet moment, then Finn's whistling definitely was.

The tune he was playing was completely random and basically just practice. He had learned to better his skills ever since he got the crazy idea that he could use it to train and call in a giant bird to lift him off to another adventure whenever he wanted. Naturally, Jake spent a good five minutes explaining everything that was incorrect with that plan.

Even with the bursting of his bubble, the young hero still managed to get the action stuck in his head, and so tweeted along with little notice that he was in fact blowing the sharp sound all over the place. Sadly, there was no wind today, making for a stale and frankly quite boring trek over the fields of grass. Still, a hero's work is never done, and Finn had a duty to deliver the component he had recently sliced off of the robotic candy cultivator Princess Bubblegum had him fight after it went rampant and began leveling entire forests.

His sword was currently covered in oil, giving off an unpleasant smell as the weapon remained tucked in his pack. For a replacement, the blade wasn't half bad. It did the job, defeated evil stuff, and performed excellently whenever he needed to bash open a piñata at a party. Such a simple steel construct, but remarkably reliable.

In the meantime, the human made it to the edge of the cotton candy forest and was enveloped by the pink trees and their sugary payloads. The Candy Kingdom's castle was soon within sight, towering over the rest of the sweet land with is distinguished height and the large treetop sprouting from its roof.

On approach to the front gates, Finn was met with the friendly greetings of the banana guards watching over the entrance. After a return wave, the hero proceeded through and walked down the street towards PB's place. Even in the kingdom, it was a slow day. Not that many candy people were seen outside, and those that were just sat around napping or were on their way home to likely stay there for the rest of the evening.

Kicking open the front doors of the great hall, the human was met by the plain voice of Manfried, who was hanging from the ceiling as always. Even within the castle, there were very few servants rushing about. Apparently it was a very lazy day. Ignoring the odd lack of activity, Finn resumed dragging along the machinery under his arm and began his journey down a spiraling staircase leading to Bubblegum's lab.

Once reaching the eerie, confined spaces of the castle's underbelly, the young hero knocked firmly on the large wooden door and waited patiently for an invitation to enter.

"Come in," replied a feminine voice.

Finn went ahead and opened the entrance to the lab and walked in. He had a bit of trouble when the cables got wedged in the door, but a few quick jerks freed the mechanical item of its predicament.

"Careful," Peebles spoke.

Finn sheepishly apologized and gently placed the component on a nearby examination table.

"So how's it been, PB?"

The pink princess sighed and brushed off a few beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Still can't figure out where the cultivator malfunctioned. I checked the motherboard, the mainframe, every inch of circuits, gears, and gizmos. Nothing."

Frustrated, she sat back on a nearby chair, eyeing the cabling her friend just brought in through her pair of protective goggles.

"Hopefully, I can dissect this crucial part and determine the cause."

Finn nodded.

"What's this thing for anyway?"

Bubblegum got up and gestured for the hero to watch a diagram on her computer monitor.

"The Candy Kingdom is always looking for improvements. If we can mechanize our rural activities, we'll have a much more efficient method of gathering resources. I just figured we'd start at our food supply."

Finn nodded again, now understanding. He curiously walked over as the princess started zapping the cabling with a small welding torch. Instead of fusing components however, she was using it to cut away several sections of the device, careful to not strike any vital wiring. The monarch huffed.

"Couldn't you have sliced off a bit higher, Finn?"

The human rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, it was kinda about to run me over and I just acted on instinct."

PB shrugged, realizing no decapitation was perfect, and returned to her work. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before her focus and aim was being thrown off by a rattling.

"Finn, would you please stop shaking the table, it's very distracting."

The young human raised an eyebrow.

"Um, I'm not even touching the table."

Peebles stopped her cutting and eyed her friend. He was telling the truth. Finn was actually a few feet away from her work area, standing with subtle interest. PB furrowed her brow as she gazed at her tabletop. It was still shaking. However, now there was an additional vibration coming from the floor. Bubblegum heard the clinging of multiple glass beakers on her holding rack as the whole room shook roughly.

"Is that an earthquake!?" Finn shouted out, trying to keep calm.

Peebles stumbled over to her computer, not able to walk straight for the moment due to unsettled flooring. A few moments of typing brought up her scans of underground activity. The results showed up negative.

"No, I don't know what it is."

Suddenly, the megaphone installed in the upper corner of the room crackled in, releasing the concerned voice of Peppermint Butler.

"Princess, please come up to the observation balcony immediately!"

Not bothering to question the candy man's request, PB instantly tore off her goggles and rushed to the door.

"Let's go, Finn."

The hero acknowledged and ran after her. It took a few minutes of climbing and dodging scared candy people to make it to their destination, but nevertheless, both of them soon joined Pep But on the highest opening on the castle. The short striped being had an urgent expression upon his face as he gestured with his finger at the sky above.

When the other two looked to where he was pointing, they gasped. A small group of what appeared to be shooting stars was heading towards the ground, igniting the sky with streaks of red-orange.

"What the heck are those?!" Finn asked while gazing in slight disposition at the falling objects.

Bubblegum stepped over and brought her eye to the lens of a miniature telescope fastened to the balcony's edge. Seeing the approaching mass in greater detail, she was sure of what they were.

"Meteors; and it looks like they're going to strike somewhere in the grasslands."

He voice was urgent, but somehow also relieved.

"Thank Glob. I couldn't imagine the damage if any of them came close to one of the kingdoms."

As if jinxed by her words, the candy monarch and her companions stared dumbfounded as the group of plummeting flames suddenly broke off into differing directions, as if in formation. It was now clear that there were five of them. Four of these shot off into the horizon, but the fifth headed right for the Candy Kingdom. All eyes went wide as the glowing object bared down on the castle.

"Everybody duck!"

The others followed Finn's order and hit the floor, covering their ears and preparing for the worst. Surprisingly, the 'meteor' didn't hit the building. Instead, it zoomed past, aiming at another target. The three on the castle's balcony quickly got up upon discovering they weren't dead and ran over to the edge in order to track the object's path.

After clearing the borders of the kingdom on the other side, the falling mass at last struck just outside the walls of the city, unleashing a blinding light, followed by a horrendous boom and a terrifying gust of backlash wind. PB, Finn, and Peppermint were barely able to stay on their feet while shielding their eyes from the potential debris flung into the air by the hit.

Once the resonating shocks of the impact had subsided, sights fell upon the smoking hole in the ground just beyond the kingdom borders. The scared and worried cried of candy people could be heard far below, as no one had any idea what was transpiring. However, the ever calm Princess Bubblegum swiftly peered over the balcony and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Banana guards!"

A troop of concerned yellow beings stopped their bewildered chatter and looked up, having heard their leader's yell.

"Get over the crash site and secure the area. I don't want anyone getting hurt from whatever struck over there."

The guards saluted and quickly sprinted in unison to the other end of the kingdom, intent on following PB's orders. Meanwhile, the monarch turned her attention to the horizon. She could faintly make out the forms of four additional plumes of smoke, rising into the sky like beacons, indicating the locations the other objects had fallen at.

Once her initial analysis was put together, Peebles faced her human friend.

"Finn, I need you to go check out those other crash sites. There's no telling what was in those things."

The hero frowned.

"Why not?"

PB crossed her arms and gazed at the ground with concern.

"Normal meteors can't blatantly shift their trajectory at any given moment. Something else was controlling their decent. We need to figure things out before some other anomaly occurs."

While only understanding about half of that, Finn got the gist of it and did a quick bow.

"Right away, Prubs."

Pep But walked up to the princess and handed her a laptop he had just fetched. She thanked the stout man and tapped a multitude of keys before pulling a tiny data chip from the computer's input terminal. Peebles then took out a pink crystal pendant and slipped the chip inside, briefly making it blink green.

She then handed the item to Finn.

"This contains the locations of the other sites. They're confirmed to have all landed in or near a kingdom. This includes the Ice, Goblin, Slime, and Fire Kingdom."

Finn nodded with determination and suddenly pulled out a phone from his pack, dialing a number at lightning speed. He allowed the device to ring before the line connected and instantly released a freaked-out voice that was all too familiar.

"Finn! Bro! What the nuts is happening!"

The human did his best to calm his best friend.

"Jake, chill out, dude. PB just asked me to help figure this junk out. Care to join?"

The magical dog though for a moment.

"Yeah, sure. Where do I meet you?"

Finn walked over to the edge of the balcony and casually looked down at the ground level.

"Where are _you_?"

"I'm at the Candy Kingdom, hanging with Lady outside the smoothie shop."

The young hero grinned as he took a few steps back from the edge.

"Hey, could you do me a favor and turn into a huge pillow for a minute?"

Jake did a double-take on the opposite end.

"What? Why?"

Finn cracked his neck and did a few knee bends.

"Just trust me."

Reluctant due to his brother's reckless habits, Jake took great consideration before reconfiguring his stretchy body into the form requested.

"Alright. Now what?"

Finn took a knee, preparing for a sprint.

"I'll be there in about ten seconds."

"Wait! Wha-"

The human hung up and replaced the phone, then dashed at the edge in a blur.

"Finn!" Peebles cried out.

But it was too late; the thrill-seeking boy was already doing a few boastful front flips off the side of the balcony.

"Yahoo!"

With a quick readjustment, Finn was now shooting downward at high speed, directly into the waiting mass that was Jake. Upon impacting the canine's moldable flesh, Finn grunted slightly, having not quite made a perfect landing, but for the most part was unharmed. Jake on the other hand, let out a pained groaned and instantly shrunk back down to his normal shape, lying on his stomach in a fetal position.

"Oooooh, you landed right on where you shouldn't have landed, ooooohh."

Feeling back for his bro's suffering, Finn kneeled down and patted the dog's head.

"I'm really sorry, man. I just love making a dramatic entrance."

Jake let out a huff and returned to groaning over his injured doggy bag. In the meantime, Lady Rainicorn was coming outside from ordering another smoothie, which she dropped out of shock when she saw her boyfriend's condition.

"Jake! 무슨 일이 있었나요?"

The yellow canine gave the best grin he could muster.

"Oh, just the usual, Finn here is being inconsiderate of other peoples' physical well-being."

The human scoffed.

"Do you really want to go through the whole Jakesuit ordeal again?"

At the mention of his and Finn's previous bet, the dog grunted in defeat and finally managed to get to his feet, albeit standing in an awkward position.

"So where are we going?"

Finn pulled out the holo-pendant, now hanging around his neck, and displayed the map to his buddy.

"PB gave me all the places we've got to go to. So let's get going."

The dog nodded and turned to his girlfriend.

"Well, a hero's work is never done. Sorry about the interrupted date, Lady. I'll make it up to you."

The rainicorn just smiled and held up her hand.

"그것은 좋아, 사탕 과자입니다. 내 큰 영웅이 이동합니다."

Jake blushed and giggled a bit at the comment as Lady kissed him on the top of his head. After a finger snap in front of his face, courtesy of Finn, he shook off the giddy feeling and began to grow his body. Once he reached a size of around fifty feet, he reached down and plucked Finn off the ground, placing the human on top of his head.

He then stretched out his legs and in one step cleared the walls of the kingdom, heading in the general direction of their targets.

"So, which one should we scope out first?"

Finn rubbed his chin in thought.

"Let's try the Fire Kingdom."

Jake couldn't help smirking.

"heh heh, I knew you were gonna say that."

Finn rolled his eyes, ignoring the comment. As the duo headed for the dark mountain range that hid the blazing kingdom, the ever present pillar of smoke poured out of its center, worrying the adventurers as to what the object had struck. Once the lands were within range, Finn began looking around, trying to spot their ticket into the borders.

Lucky, Flambo was easily visible, staring with wonder from the highest point he could reach in order to view the crash site that now drew attention of his entire native kingdom. Jake scaled the mountain and came up behind the flambit, who immediately noticed the pair.

"Hey there, guys. Yous here to check out that hole in the ground?"

Finn slid down onto Jake's nose to get closer.

"Yeah. We're on assignment from PB. Can you spare a couple flame shields?"

Flambo nodded without further question, understanding the severity the situation might hold. With a few quick chants, he pressed his extended finger tips against the brothers' foreheads, coating them in the protective charm. The heroes thanked the little guy and began heading over the rest of the Fire Kingdom's borders.

"Wait! I'm goin with."

Flambo scampered over a few jagged points of rock and made it onto Jake's back, then climbed the canine's head to finally reach his destination and hopped onto Finn's shoulder. The human obviously had no argument against the flambit joining and so the young hero's bro kept going across the range, ever closing in on the volcanic city.

As Jake shrunk down a bit to accommodate for the lack of stable ground to walk on, Finn began zeroing in on the smoke, still billowing out from an area next to the palace. Amazingly, it had landed on actual earth and not one of the many pools of molten rock surrounding the kingdom. Upon nearing the epicenter of the crater, Jake shrunk down further until his passengers had ample distance from the ground to jump off safely.

Whe the trio ran up to the site, they instantly saw a line of fire guards vigilantly encircling the area. When Finn walked up to the barrier of sturdy elementals, they crossed their spears to block his path and glared at him.

"Halt! State your business. And don't even think about lying!"

Finn furrowed his brow slightly and rubbed his neck.

"Uh, I'm just here to make sure none of ya'll are hurt."

A few of the guards looked at each other, then shrugged and parted a path for the human to go through.

"Go ahead; the king might want a word with you anyway."

The three proceeded past the fire elementals and made their way to the core of the chaotic phenomenon. The smoke was decreasing visibility by this point, making it difficult to make out much from the hazy air. However, one thing that wasn't hard to see was a reddish glow nearby. The shape was that of a fire, but the group knew who it really was.

"Flame Princess!"

Finn instantly regretted that he didn't think about the fiery girl's reaction to a sudden noise. Her response was to swiftly spin around and blast a large amount of flames at the human, who only managed to close his eyes as the fire engulfed him. When the blaze subsided, the young hero stood for the most part unharmed, but still had significant scorch marks on his face and body. Flame shield was good, but still couldn't withstand combustion that was specifically meant to hurt someone.

The flame king's defensive expression quickly melted away, replaced by one of surprise, then finally concern.

"Oh Gob! Finn, are you ok?"

The hero let out a single cough, but then gave a thumbs up and grinned.

"Of course. I'm not going down just because of a little fire."

FP sighed and shook her head.

"I'll never understand you."

Jake gave a hard look from next to Finn and crossed his arms.

"Tell me about it. This is the guy who jumps into volcanoes for the fun of it; and drags his buddy in with him."

Finn laughed nervously as Flame Princess gave him an astonished stare.

"Yeah, I might've forgotten to mention that."

The king pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned.

"You're insane. But you're here, so that makes me feel a lot better than a minute ago. I could use some help figuring out how to move whatever this thing is."

Jake took a step closer.

"So you've seen it?"

FP shook her head.

"Well, no, actually. But I mean, it had to be _something_. So let's go check it out."

She motioned for the heroes to follow as she marched further into the site, eventually reaching the lip of the crater. Based on the curvature, it was incredibly wide. The four friends strolled into the darkening smoke, quite casually approaching the center. Luckily, the smoke wasn't harsh enough to cause any breathing problems for the two non-elementals. As they walked, visibility continued to go down. Even with FP's natural light, they found it difficult to see what was in front of them.

Suddenly, the flame king tripped, likely on a fragment of debris. She was, however, swiftly caught before falling by the vigilant arms of Finn.

"Gotcha."

After helping the fire elemental regain stability, the human resumed walking, missing the appreciative smile from the princess.

"Thanks."

At last, they noticed that the incline of the crater had finally reached level, with no further space dug any deeper into the ground. FP groaned in frustration.

"Ugh, we can't tell what anything is with this stupid smoke."

Finn hatched an idea as he noticed a weak circle of flames at the girl's feet caused by her irritation.

"Hey, FP. Can you make a fire tornado around us?"

The fire elemental was caught off guard by the question but quickly answered back.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

The human grinned.

"Well, if I'm remembering the right science junk from PB, then if we can force air up, the smoke should follow it and clear the place up."

Flame Princess's eyes widened as she began to understand the boy's idea.

"Oh, I get it."

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Then, swiftly fired two streams of flames and started twirling on the spot, forming the currents of combustion into a loop, then began building up the walls of circular fire. Finn and Jake could feel the incredible heat through their shields.

Eventually, Finn's prediction came through, as the fiery cyclone funneled the obstructive haze upwards and out, clearing the area of all smoke. Flame Princess dissipated the tornado hastily, worried that the temperature might be getting too extreme for her friends. As she did so, the remaining embers twirled around her, emitting red and orange blinks of light.

When the girl looked back to Finn, she found him staring at her with his mouth nearly hanging open. FP was confused at first, but then noticed the embers herself and how they were encircling her. She got the message, blushed, then formed her best short-notice glare.

"Finn!"

The hero snapped out of it and shook his head.

"Oh crud, sorry, sorry!"

He defensively raised his hands until the king dropped her upset expression and shifted focus to the revealed crater. The reaction from both her and the others was a gasp. The smoke was gone, but it only unraveled yet another mystery.

"It's…empty?"

* * *

A/N: Feedback is appreciated. This will likely get updated once a week, probably Friday since that seems to be a popular time. IF its worth continuing that is.

-S.A.


	2. False Alarm

-False Alarm-

It didn't take that long for the reconstruction crew to remove the blemish upon their kingdom. With a little bit of molten rock, the void crater was soon lost beneath freshly lain earth. While Flame Princess oversaw the operation, Finn and Jake stepped aside to give an update to PB.

"You did **what**!?" the pink lady shouted.

Finn nervously gazed over his shoulder at FP, then back to Peeble's holographic face.

"Um, well, we couldn't just leave a giant hole in the ground, especially in the Fire Kingdom. Stable land is kinda valuable around here and I don't think FP would want her citizens falling into a ditch."

The candy princess groaned.

"Oh for Glob's sake. There could've been important information and evidence in that crater. Now it's gone forever. Great."

The human frowned, having already prepared a defense.

"Prubs, you've got four other holes to study and junk. Can you at least tone down the perfectionist in you just a little bit?"

PB shot him a resistive glare. He sighed.

"Plus, I really don't think Flame Princess would want you poking around. She's still edgy toward you."

Bubblegum face-palmed and shook her head.

"Fine. Whatever. Just get over to the next site. I don't want to lose even more potential data."

Finn nodded and deactivated the pendant, tucking it back under his shirt. The boy and his magical dog strolled back over to FP, who turned at their approach and let out a tired breath.

"Man, what an exhausting day. First a load of treaties to read, then a giant 'something' smashing into the place and disappearing, now I've got to go deal with some riots at the southern district."

The fire elemental still managed to smile a bit and looked to Finn and Jake.

"But I do appreciate your guys' help. Thanks."

The two heroes nodded, as if it were no big deal.

"No prob, FP. We're always around if you need some stuff done."

The flame king smiled brighter at the human then brought her hands together in front of her.

"So, now what are you guys going to do?"

Finn pointed in the direction of a distance trail of snow.

"We'll be heading for the Ice Kingdom, that's where the next closest hit took place."

Flame Princess noticeably lost some of her upbeat expression.

"Oh. Ok."

The human grinned amusedly.

"Yeah. PB's got us running all over today. A hero's work is never done."

Jake suddenly snickered from beside his bro, who raised an eyebrow, along with the fiery girl before them.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

The yellow dog tried waving him off as he controlled his hysterics.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it."

FP narrowed her eyes.

"Jake…"

The canine noticed the darkened tone in her voice and gulped slightly.

"I-it was just an inside joke. You wouldn't get it."

The fire elemental crossed her arms, beckoning him to continue. Jake gave up and awkwardly stared at the ground, kicking up some volcanic ash.

"It's funny cuz I said that same thing to Lady a little while ago when she was sad I was leaving, and now Finn just said it to you, hehe."

His laugh was halfhearted, afraid of the reaction. Luckily for him, the only effect it had was making both teenagers next to him blush. Before the embarrassment could last any longer, Finn briskly began pushing his bro towards the borders of the Fire and Ice Kingdom.

"Ok so we'll see you around, FP, bye!"

He spoke so fast that the fiery royal could barely understand the words. However, she distinguished it fully and slowly waved as the two departed, wearing a somewhat blank expression on her face.

"Uh, yeah, alright. Hey, Finn!"

The human stopped and turned, although looked very uncomfortable doing so. FP sent out a little smile.

"Come over more often, ok? It's fun to hang out."

The hero hid his second blush and waved back with a makeshift grin.

"S-sure. See ya!"

He was off, at a speed the fire elemental didn't know he possessed. She stared after the duo of adventurers as they disappeared into the distance, crossing multiple peaks and climbing over a cliff to reach the snowy land beyond the horizon.

_I hope it'll be soon, _she thought.

* * *

The frosty domain of Ice King wasn't that much different than other days, just the usual barren and frankly depressing surroundings of pointy mountains and white blanketed ground. The one thing that stood out from the pure-like state of the kingdom was the column of smoke peeking out from Ice King's overseeing castle. Jake stretched himself to massive proportions as he and Finn proceeded to the crash, reaching the taller mountain within a minute.

Instead of just barging into a foreign land without consent, the two figured even the crazy wizard deserved to be asked politely about the state of his kingdom. And so, they quickly zoned in on the entrance to IK's pad and slipped right in.

Upon entering the icy abode, the heroes scanned around the room for their loony frenemy. It didn't take long, since his distraught groans could be heard echoing on the walls, leading Finn and Jake to his recliner.

Ice King sat in a lazy position, tapping away at the buttons on his remote control. One of his penguins was standing on the floor next to his chair, also wielding a controller. The difference between them was that the penguin was actually good at the videogame they were playing. The two bros chose to wait for the old man to finish his round before interrupting.

IK fidgeted with the buttons, almost whining as he struggled to press the right combination. However, it was all for naught, as his companion secured the victory and the screen flashed their final score. The wizard angrily threw his controller to the floor.

"Aw bunk! You were cheating! Zap!"

The poor penguin was instantly trapped in a block of ice, completely immobile. IK scratched the top of his head, bumping his crown, and looked over to a corridor entrance.

"Gunter! Come take away another one!"

The cute little bird waddled in, frowning as it saw its fellow frozen solid.

"Wenk wenk?"

Ice King laughed out loud.

"Haha, of course not, sweety. I know you're not good at videogames so I won't force you to play. That would be unfair."

Little did the king know his feathery friend was actually much better than he was, but kept quiet about it to avoid being 'cubed' like the others. As Gunter lugged away the penguin-sicle, IK turned and saw Finn and Jake, almost jumping out of his seat.

"Whoa! You guys almost gave me a heart attack. Hm, that's strange. I don't recall this being a day when I freeze and force- I mean, ask you guys to hang out with me. Let me check my schedule book. Gunter! I need my-"

"Wenk."

IK jumped again, not expecting such a rapid response.

"My word, Gunter; that was fast. Have you been working on those buns and thighs?" he teased.

The penguin just stared at him, inclining the wizard to dismiss her after accepting the records. Ice King licked his finger and began flipping through the calendar, trying to find today's date.

"Let's see; kidnap Bubblegum, kidnap Wildberry, kidnap Emerald, kidnap Breakfast…Oh! Here it is! Hang with my best bros. But wait, that's not till next week."

He shut the book and gazed warmly at the heroes.

"So, you guys really came all on your own? Wanting to hang out?"

The old man was getting some tears in his eyes, making it that much harder for the duo to state their actual reasoning.

"Uh, actually, we came to check out the smoking hole behind your house."

The king's expression fell apart instantly, changed to one of absolute confusion.

"Do what now?"

Jake frowned.

"Dude, I thought you could tell when someone's messing with your ice or whatever."

IK pointed to his head.

"I haven't been wearing my crown that much today; no powers."

It was Finn's turn to be skeptical.

"Even so, you seriously didn't hear of feel anything in the last hour or so?"

Ice King shrugged.

"Nope."

The two bros nearly fell over from disbelief. Instead however, Jake sighed in disappointment and looked back to the wizard.

"Well, do you mind if we check it out?"

The old man gave an invitational gesture.

"Go right ahead, bro."

Finn added in one more thing as Ice King retrieved his controller and got back into his recliner.

"Hey, could you come with us? There's a lot of smoke and your powers could really help."

IK just reached under his tunic and tossed the human a bag, which he quickly caught, noticing how light it was.

"Na, I've got chumps to destroy. Take this bag of winds. It should do the trick. Gunter! Send in the next one!"

Finn and Jake took one last look as another penguin nervously waddled over and took hold of the second controller. Then, they retreated back outside and headed for the crater. It was actually beginning to clear up by now, raising the spirits of the two adventurers, since they were honestly a little nervous about what kind of 'winds' Ice King was talking about.

"If I pass out from this, we're beating him up the next time we see him."

Finn wasn't too keen on his bro's idea, but went along with it as he removed the string from the bag and aimed the opening at the smoke. He was nearly thrown back as icy gusts bellowed from within the sack, pushing the black fog away at a rapid rate. Once the winds had run out, they had done their job.

As Finn and Jake had feared, this hole in the ground was no different from the last; empty. The human called up PB to inform her of the situation.

"Hey Peebs, nothing new. Just a hole, nothing in it."

The princess hummed to herself as she thought.

"This is so strange. In the meantime, I found that the one outside the Candy Kingdom has nothing going for it as well. I just can't understand this. There's no way these objects shattered into undetectable pieces in between their changed direction and impact. And I would've found residue at the least. It's puzzling."

The heroes couldn't quite grasp the princess's frustration, but went along with it and agreed. The monarch then instructed the two to check on the remaining two locations. So once again, Jake grew himself super tall and placed his human bro on his back. The pair then began the long trip to the next kingdom.

* * *

Finn didn't enjoy the entrance to the slippery and frankly gross underground of the Slime Kingdom the first time and he certainly didn't like it a second time. Once he and Jake cleared the goop that dropped them into the main cavern, the pair scrapped off as much of the gooey substance as possible before proceeding forward to a large gathering of slime people.

The crowd recognized the human immediately, parting a path for him to reach the center of the mass. Upon arrival, the two heroes found Slime Princess staring up at the ceiling of the cavern. She did, however, hear the squishing noises under their feet and turned to face them.

"Finn! Jake! Thank Grod!"

Finn kneeled down to be at eye level with the short royal.

"What is it, SP? Did something evil come out of that thing that fell in the kingdom?"

The greenish being shook her head.

"No. Just look, there's a gaping hole in the ceiling. It looks awful!"

The bros were a bit disappointed in the attitude of several royals today, rolling their eyes while the princess wasn't looking.

"Ok, well, we'll get right on that. Anyway, you're saying there was nothing?"

Before Slime Princess could reply, another inhabitant of the kingdom stepped through the crowd, holding his scepter high to dispel those in his way.

"No! That is what _she_ said. But I, Elder Plops, saw something much more than just 'nothing'."

Finn and Jake let the interruption slide and faced the eldery man, who readjusted the towering miter on his head before continuing.

"Just as the sound of a crash echoed through the kingdom I, Elder Plops, drew my sight to the roof of our beloved home, instantly seeing the object from the sky beginning to drip down after being caught in the slimy substance of the surroundings."

Finn was extremely hopeful at this point.

"So what was it? And where is it now?"

The old slime person's expression changed to one of discomfort.

"Mm, Elder Plops has no idea."

Jake face-palmed and groaned, tired of having no results and dealing only with old loonies. Finn on the other hand, kept his chivalrous demeanor.

"Oh. Well, thanks anyway. Later."

"Wait!"

The human stopped leaving and looked back to Plops.

"What is it?"

The stubby slime man pulled at his beard as he appeared to be whimsically gazing at the area in the ceiling that had been breached.

"This cool guy didn't say anything about having no info whatsoever. All you asked was if I knew what and where it was. You never inquired of me, Elder Plops, if I could give any form of description of said object."

Finn was a bit lost by all the eccentric talk but understood what the elder meant.

"Oh, well sure. Could you please give us a rundown of what you saw?"

Plops nodded and pointed with his scepter to the hole.

"Right there, above the glorious kingdom where I, Elder Plops, am much beloved, there fell an irregular shaped 'thing' that reminded me of a boulder. Sadly, even the astounding eyesight of me, Elder Plops, couldn't be sure. It appeared to be, melty."

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Melty?"

The elder nodded.

"Indeed. It looked like it was shifting somewhat, not quite satisfied with its shape."

Jake's eyes widened.

"So, it was a _living_ thing?"

Plops held his hand defensively to the dog.

"Whoa, whoa! This awesome dude didn't say that. I only said what I, Elder Plops, directly told you. There's nothing more to it."

Jake took great effort into not losing his mind as Finn frowned and tried to process the info.

"Well, thank you for the description, sir. We'll be on our way."

The slime person nodded.

"Of course. Just come by if you need the services of me, Elder Plops, for any further reason."

The human acknowledged, rather awkwardly, and turned back to Slime Princess.

"I guess we'll get going. We've still got to check on the Goblin Kingdom. Later, SP."

The short royal waved back with a smile as Jake stretched his legs like an elevator to deliver himself and Finn to the surface once again, leaving behind the added mystery of an actual object within one of the falling anomalies.

* * *

By the time Finn and Jake made it to the isolated city of the goblins, the smoke from their unwelcome guest had long since subsided. Not only that, but the citizens had cleaned up the whole mess. Figures. After all, the people had proven their skill in rebuilding after Flame Princess made a 'visit' several years ago.

As the two adventurers descended down into the city, they were immediately greeted by many of the goblins, who remembered the times this duo had saved them. It took some effort, but they made it to the palace and pushed their way inside. Before them was the goblin throne, upon which sat Whisper Dan, Finn's scapegoat for escaping the insanity of the Goblin Kingdom's rules.

As far as the heroes could tell, the inhabitants of the city paid no mind to the fact that Finn was now adventuring out and about, rather than sitting upon his kingly chair. The whole situation was confusing and weird, but they chose not to argue about it, since there was no reason to ruin a good thing.

"Sire, you have guests," Gummy, the Royal Goblin Chief of Staff, announced.

Naturally, before Whisper Dan replied (not that he could), the little goblin held up his hands.

"I shall exchange the greetings for you."

He proceeded to perform a small bow to the newly arrived pair.

"The king welcomes you to our humble land. To what do we owe this pleasant visit?"

Finn rubbed the back of his neck, realizing that without anything left of the crater, there wasn't much point in being here.

"Um, well. We were sent by Princess Bubblegum to check out some 'thing' that landed near here. You wouldn't by chance know anything about it, would you?"

Gummy looked back to his king and held up his hand again.

"I know exactly what to say, your highness. Do not worry."

He turned back to Finn and Jake.

"Indeed, there was a most unusual crash just outside our walls. However, we found not a trace of any 'thing' inside."

The heroes hung their heads sadly, expecting such an answer. Gummy meanwhile, frowned as well.

"The sire would like to express his deepest apologies that he could not offer more. It is truly sorrowful that we cannot repay the great heroes who saved us many times over."

Finn formed a humble smile.

"Na, that's ok. You told us exactly what we needed. Thanks a lot, Gummy."

The goblin shook his head.

"Oh no. It was the great king who you should thank."

The bros stared for a second at Whisper Dan's form and gave weak wave.

"Thank you."

With that, the pair departed, leaving behind the Goblin Kingdom and making their way home by use of Jake's massive steps. While making the journey, Finn called up PB and informed her of the statuses of the other kingdoms, explaining the same results. However, the princess was extremely interested in Elder Plops' story.

"An possible organism? This is worth looking into. I'm going to set up a meeting with Slime Princess. In the meantime guys, thanks for all your help today. Go get a good rest."

The adventurers acknowledged the message and Finn promptly flung the holo-pendant far across the grasslands.

"Hey how come you always do that?" Jake asked.

The human shrugged.

"I don't really know."

The sun was setting by this point, producing a gorgeous mixture of oranges, reds, and yellows on the horizon, drawing Finn's entire attention for the whole trip home. Jake noticed the silence from his bro and spoke up.

"You alright up there, dude?"

The boy was almost too mesmerized to answer back.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm good. Just looking at the sunset."

The dog grinned.

"Thinking about anyone?"

Finn's eyes wouldn't even blink by now.

"Yeah…wait, what? No! Jake, butt out, man!"

The magical canine stretched his face up to meet his bro's.

"Don't be lying, lover boy. I could practically _smell_ your emotions when you stopped FP from tripping. You were soooo happy to have her in your arms for those precious few seconds."

He proceeded to laugh while Finn's face changed shades to nearly match a rose.

"Seriously, Jake, quit it!"

The dog shifted some of his body to match a figure of Flame Princess, then began speaking in a teasing female voice.

"Oh Finn! You're such an awesome guy, I just want to sit in your lap and watch the sunset. But you'll probably just stare at me cuz you think I'm so pretty. Want a kiss, my hero?"

Finn was grinding his teeth at this point and resisting the urge to wonk his bro in the eye.

"Let me off."

Jake's entertained expression fell off.

"Huh?"

The human narrowed his eyes at the dog.

"Let. Me. Off."

The tone he used was so definite that Jake didn't hesitate to shrink down and let the human off. Finn strolled away, walking on his own back to the tree house.

"Finn, I'm really sorry. I know, I'm a jerk and you have every right to ignore or punch me and stuff, but please, don't be walking home on your own. Finn?"

The hero didn't turn as he continued his pace.

"I'll be fine."

Jake watched sadly as his bro-ham wandered across the plains, cursing himself for taking the joke too far. Eventually, he stretched himself big again and depressingly stepped past the human and out of sight over a hill. In the meantime, Finn resumed his gaze at the sunset while walking. He smiled.

_Well, I guess I've got time to think of another poem._

_When the rains fall, I'll be there to shield you_

_When the people are restless, I'll be there to aid you_

_There will never be a time_

_When my time is more treasured than yours…_

* * *

A/N: I might just be able to do two updates a week. I'll see how how it goes. Also, thank you all who gave this a chance. I hope you'll like what comes next.

-S.A.


	3. Thieves on the Rise

-Thieves on the Rise-

Finn woke up with a sore back, having regrettably slept in the awkward position of hanging halfway off his bed. Once the young hero finished popping some joints into place, he proceeded to climb down to the kitchen and enjoy a breakfast prepared by his talented brother.

Sizzling was in the air as Jake hummed along to the cooking eggs in front of him. The dog periodically toggled his sight between the eye-like yolks, a pan of bacon, and the hot chocolate that was brewing nearby. As Finn made his way to the table, a yawn from the boy attracted his roomie's attention.

"Morning, dude. You alright?"

Jake had a look of concern as he studied the human's unusual movement. The boy just chuckled.

"Heh. Yeah, I'm fine, just slept in a bad way."

The hero's bro understood now and returned to his cooking.

"So, anything else bothering you? Cuz I heard you all groaning and moving around in your bed last night. You have a bad dream, bro?"

Finn frowned as he casually messed with his fork on the tabletop.

"Yeah, actually. It was really nuts."

The magical dog looked worried.

"Don't tell me, Cosmic Owl…"

Finn shook his head.

"No, man, nothing like that. But, I've never had one like this before."

Jake had finished the breakfast assortment and used his stretched out hands as platters to deliver the food to the table, sitting down next to his best friend.

"How so?"

Finn propped his head up on his arms and sighed.

"It was like, I was flying through space, then I was about to crash into earth and I saw this huge explosion. The whole planet was on fire and everything was wiped out. It was freaky."

The human took up his fork and poked at his eggs.

"I've been having that same dream ever since those meteors or whatever came down. Every night."

Jake was shocked by this.

"Dude, that was like two weeks ago! Why didn't you mention it sooner?"

The young hero sighed.

"Well, you're not exactly the best person to talk to about dreams, no offense."

Jake slowly nodded with a frown.

"Yeah, that's true."

As the brothers quietly began their breakfast, the conversation was forgotten. However, before they could finish the peaceful meal, there was a ring on Finn's phone. The human reached into his backpack, took out the device, and turned on the connection.

"Hello? Oh hey, s'up Prubs?"

Jake, who had been ignoring the conversation for the first few seconds, now placed his attention on the phone. Finn was intently listening to what the princess was telling him. Soon, he hung up and stuck his fork in the wooden table.

"Come on, dude. She needs us."

The magical dog groaned but managed to stuff his remaining bacon into a stretchy pouch before following his bro out the door.

* * *

Much of the candy populous was gathered by the fringes of the castle, murmuring worriedly as they witnessed banana guards patrolling all sides of the building's perimeter. Suddenly, a slight shaking came from nearby. All heads turned to see a giant Jake making his way through the crowd, careful not to squish anyone.

The citizens gladly parted a path for the dog and his human passenger, allowing them to freely make it to the entrance of the castle and into the main hall. The guards pointed them to where PB was, which happened to be the top floor of her amazing home. It was quite exhausting, to climb all the stairs necessary to reach the landing, but the determined heroes knew there was an urgent matter and sucked it up.

Upon setting foot on the highest level of the sugary structure, the two adventurers were rather confused as to what they were there for in the first place.

Princess Bubblegum was simply standing there, the center of her astronomy room, gazing around at the various scrolls and equipment used to chart the stars and planets. She heard the pair enter and turned to face them.

"Oh, good, you're here."

Finn and Jake walked up to the monarch, brows furrowed.

"Uh, PB, why'd you send for us? And what's with the guards outside?"

Jake took his last bite of bacon.

"Yeah. There's nothing going on. And no crime scene or whatever."

Peebles shook her head.

"Maybe not to anyone else, but I know my own documents."

She reached over and pointed to an empty slot on her scroll rack.

"This one parchment has disappeared. I had not touched it for a long time and no one else has access to this room."

The duo was skeptical.

"Come on, really? You could've easily misplaced it. Or maybe it never existed. You can't go all nuts just because of one missing scroll."

Bubblegum scowled.

"I'm telling you this one last time, Jake. I _know _my documents. There has been thievery in my kingdom and I want the two of you to find out why they wanted my stuff."

Finn shrugged.

"Well, you're the smartest person around. Maybe they wanted to steal some technology junk or something."

Peebles thought hard.

"Perhaps, but I'm not taking chances. There's sensitive information in this castle. If a thief can get to this, the most secluded area in the whole building, then there's no telling how easy it might be for them to strike another part."

The heroes nodded.

"Ok. I guess that's fair. What do you need us to do?"

Peebles reached into the pocket of her dress and produced a pink crystal, which she tossed to Finn. The boy caught it and hung it around his neck.

"See of you can find anything around the castle. The moment you do, call me up."

Finn saluted.

"You've got it Peebs."

The princess nodded and made her way over to the stairs. Once she was out of sight, the brothers turned their attention back to the room.

"Ok, buddy. Sniff us out some robbers."

Jake enthusiastically got on all fours.

"No problem. We'll have them in jail by lunchtime."

He began to inhale the scent of the floor, walking along in a zigzag-like pattern while Finn stayed close behind. The yellow dog went everywhere, from the tables, to the shelves, and even the ceiling with some help from his stretchy neck. Regardless of all that scanning, Jake failed to detect a single tread of smell from anything out of the ordinary. Even the spot where the missing scroll was had nothing to offer.

"Man, this is bunk. We're letting PB down."

Finn sat down in one of the chairs, saddened by their lack of progress. Jake let his bottom fall to the ground and began making various shapes with his powers, trying to not be bored. Luckily, a call came in on Finn's pendant within a few minutes. As Peebles' face showed up in the pink holographic square, her expression was an urgent one.

"Guys, did you find anything?"

Depressingly, they both nodded. The princess sighed.

"I was afraid of that. Whoever did this was a professional. No evidence whatsoever. Anyway, I found something else that was unusual."

Finn and Jake leaned into the image.

"What is it?"

PB momentarily exited the display to check on something. When she returned, there was a small data sheet in her hand.

"There have been strange readings coming up from the Ice Kingdom lately. I've had an array set up since the meteors to detect any potential remnants of signal from the objects, but instead I've been receiving energy patterns that are even too bizarre for me to understand."

The heroes knew this was a big deal if even the princess was stumped.

"What should we do?" Finn asked eagerly.

The candy monarch looked nervous.

"Well, could you two head over there? You'll probably have to deal with Ice King."

The duo thought about it for a moment then shrugged.

"Na, it's cool. We'll head out right away."

PB was fairly surprised but recomposed herself and cleared her throat.

"Oh. Ok. Call in when you find out more. Bye."

* * *

As Jake stomped through the deep piles of snow, he eyed Ice King's mountain in the distance. He and Finn honestly couldn't believe how often they were visiting the old guy now days. He'd surly be happy about it, but they were quite annoyed. Sure he was bearable at their place, way back when he crashed at the tree house, but in his domain they were forced to observe his full range of disturbing behaviors.

Once Jake stretched himself and his homie into the narrow opening atop the mountain, the two adventurers promptly began walking through the house, just like last time, in search of the ice wizard.

"Yo, Simon! You home?" Jake shouted.

There was no response. They continued further into the residence, walking down an icy hallway and towards a source of light that was just noticed. This illumination led to a spiral staircase, which the two carefully descended down. As they reached the bottom of the landing, they were astonished by what they saw.

Piles upon piles of books, all sizes. Most were stuffed with extra papers, as if the author was desperate to add in that one last piece of plot to make it enjoyable. However, these volumes were generally not seen by others, making their contents exclusive to the only weirdo who liked them, a.k.a. the ice wizard who wrote them.

Sitting on a stack of the books, Ice King hummed along as he held a pencil and blank sheet of paper, coming up with new fanficiton ideas. Occasionally, he would tap his crown with the writing utensil, trying to think of the right word or phrase to go with the rest of his sentence. As Finn and Jake walked over, he managed to spot them and put down his current project, smiling.

"Oh, good! You guys are just in time. I finished this totally awesome story earlier. Here."

He handed Finn one of the books, which happened to be as thick as a few bricks. The human couldn't hold it for long and so allowed the 'literature' to fall to the icy ground.

"Uh. No thanks. We'll get to it later. Right now we've got some important stuff to talk to you about."

IK was intrigued.

"Ooo! Really? Is there a princess who has a crush on me? I bet it's Bubblegum. It is isn't it?"

Jake pinched his eyes together and groaned while his bro just blankly stared at the daydreaming king.

"No, not that. We were just wondering, has anything…weird, been going on around your place?"

The old man stopped his imagining and scratched his head.

"Hm. Not that I know of. I've been home pretty much all week, and that's without showers too. So there's no way I missed anything."

The heroes nearly puked, but instead took a step back from the wizard.

"Ok, well," Finn began, looking quite disgusted.

"Is it cool if we look around?"

IK motioned to the corridors nearby.

"What's mine is yours, bro-ham. Except the princesses, of course."

Ignoring the last part, Finn and Jake thanked the looney, who returned to his writing, and made their way to the endless ice tunnels branching throughout the king's house. Finn was forced to pull on his yellow long-sleeve after his shivering became disruptive. It was well over an hour until the two completed their search of the premise, finding nothing of interest, not that they wanted to look through the ice wizard's junk in the first place.

"Man, this is hopeless. I think PB's just gone crazy."

The human frowned at his companion.

"Well, I guess there are times where she gets…nuts."

Jake scoffed.

"Understatement, bro. Remember Tree Trunks' wedding?"

Finn looked uneasily to the side, recalling the freaky event, where the pink princess had gone over the edge due to her grudge against the 'King of Ooo'.

"Let's call her and say we've got nothing."

The boy nodded to Jake's suggestion and reached into his collar to bring out the pendant. Suddenly though, the dog stopped him.

"Whoa! Hang on!"

Finn looked around.

"What? What is it?"

The yellow canine pointed to a far room, enclosed by a lightning shaped door.

"It's just IK's lightning storage room. Don't tell me that junk about dogs being scared of lightning is true."

Jake pouted.

"That's thunder, dude. And no, I'm not afraid of it."

A loud noise rang from the closed off area, causing Jake to yelp and jump into his bro's arms, shaking. Finn smiled amusedly. The dog noticed this and crossed his arms.

"Aw, shut up."

The human chuckled and set his friend back down. Ice King must have not heard the bang, as he didn't come running to see if a princess had come to visit.

"Let's check it out," Finn suggested.

Jake nodded, but remained safely behind the boy as they approached the lightning door. Finn reached for the handle, decided against it, then stood back and gave it a hard kick, instantly busting it open. Immediately, the duo saw a penguin standing by the hazardous electrical bolts. In fact, it was holding one.

"Wenk."

The adventurers had spent enough time around the Ice Kingdom to distinguish the various bird's voices.

"Gunter? What are you doing with your daddy's lightning?" Jake inquired, beginning to approach the little creature.

However, as soon as the dog was about to reach out and pat the girl on the head, she smacked his hand away.

"Wenk!"

Jake recoiled, which gave Gunter the chance to quickly escape. And that was the astonishing part: she really, _quickly _escaped. The penguin's tiny legs didn't seem to warrant that level of speed as she rushed around Finn, dodging his grab and vanishing down the hall.

"What the- no way!"

Jake jumped onto his belly and grabbed Finn, placing him on his back as he stretched into a snowboard. The human balanced himself as the dog picked up some speed and followed Gunter down the corridor.

Once the two had gained sufficient acceleration, the penguin came back into view, still making a mad dash for the stairs.

"She's trying to get out of the castle!"

Finn quickly shifted his weight, causing board-Jake to slide onto the slippery walls. The human completed the loop, driving the two of them faster and faster as they corkscrewed over the ceiling and floor.

Suddenly, Ice King emerged from his collection room, still reading.

"Simon! Stop Gunter!"

"Huh? What?"

The penguin whizzed by before the wizard was able to register the comment Jake shouted. He was also too late to avoid colliding with the duo as he got in their way. As the three tumbled across the floor, their bodies smacked into the tower holding the spiral staircase, where Gunter was currently running up.

"We've got to catch her. Jake, stretch us up."

The dog grabbed both his bro and Ice King, lifting them up with his stretchy legs and gaining fast on the fleeing penguin. When the trio reached the top floor, their quarry was already heading into the living room.

"She's gonna try to jump out of the window!"

IK was shocked.

"What! What are you talking about?"

Finn shouted over his shoulder as he and Jake ran ahead.

"Gunter stole one of your lightning things and now she's running away."

The wizard dropped his book, then grew an angry face.

"GUNTER! YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE, MISSY!"

He flew at high speed after Finn and Jake, surpassing them actually. The two heroes were in awe as the wizard made it to the living room and instantly zeroed in on Gunter.

"Zap!"

He fired a bolt of ice powers at her, but she avoided it easily. The ice wizard continued trying to hit the bird, but her incredible speed was too much for his old guy aim.

"Dang it, Gunter! Hold still and take your punishment!"

As the heroes entered the room, they observed the failed attempts to freeze the little penguin. Suddenly, Finn had an idea.

"Hey, Simon! Give the floor an extra coat!"

It took a few seconds, but the looney old man grinned and charged up one big bolt, striking the floor and encasing it in an incredibly slick sheet of ice.

As Finn had predicted, Gunter lost her balance and skidded uncontrollably right into the wall, where she hit with a nasty thud. The three who had been in pursuit quickly converged on her, intending to get some answers. However, what came next paralyzed them.

Gunter's form seemed to flicker, distort even. It was as if she were static from the TV. Eventually though, this shape dissipated completely, reforming as something much more humanoid, about Finn's size. As the witnesses watched with wide eyes, the image rematerialized as a girl, who had short brown hair and wore a white jacket that was halfway unzipped. She groaned, rubbing her head as she stood up. Ice King and Jake were unable to move, but Finn took a hollow step forward, his mouth hanging open.

"Who…who are you?"

The girl readjusted her focus and glared at the boy. During the moment where she wasn't moving, Finn could make out a symbol on her shirt beneath the jacket. It was contained within a circle, seeming to be a large letter 'V'. However, something was off about it. The imposter narrowed her eyes further. Finn refused to let down his stare.

"Are you…human?"

The one in front of him briefly flashed an expression of disbelief, but quickly shook it off and made a break for it, lightning still in hand.

"Wait! Stop! Please!"

Finn ran after her, as the others were still frozen. The hero chased his target all the way over to the window overlooking the Ice Kingdom. She still had her extreme speed, which made it difficult for the already tired boy to keep up. The girl immediately dived through the triangle opening. Finn heedlessly followed.

As the two of them began sliding down the side of the mountain at insane speeds, Finn did his best to catch up to the female, who was a few yards ahead of him. His struggle was desperate by this point. He wouldn't give up the chase for _anything._

Unfortunately, the chased saw him from the corner of her eye, glaring at him again. Instead of caring though, Finn just frowned and kept edging closer.

"I'm begging you, tell me!"

The girl bared her teeth, apparently annoyed. It was at this point that Finn could tell she was slightly younger than him, based on build and facial structure. Even more desperate when she refused to answer again, the hero did the mad and threw himself at her. She wasn't expecting this, forcing her to take on the tackle, which caused the both of them to tumble down the side at dangerous velocity.

"I don't know any other humans. Just tell me if you're one of them!"

His voice was breaking fast by now. Interestingly enough, his quarry's expression died down, now shown as one of shock and slight pity. This swiftly returned to her hardened demeanor however, and she followed it up with a blazing fast punch to Finn's face, knocking him off of her. The human was thrown back a few feet as the girl reestablished her footing on the mountain's icy side.

When the boy stabilized his own stance, he looked back to the female. She was gazing at him, not exactly with a glare, but at the very least a warning look.

"Yes, I am a human."

Finn's heart skipped a few beats. His mind raced instantly. He could feel sweat beginning to form on his temple regardless of the low temperature blasting in his face. He kept his sight firmly planted on the girl below him. She slowly closed her eyes, softening her scowl.

"My name is Fifth Arc. That's all I'm saying. You're not alone."

With that, the young gal pushed off from the mountain, where the downward momentum was just right for her to catch onto a nearby hill and begin sliding down its much less inclined slope. Finn was unable to follow, too stunned by what he heard. Unfortunately, this also made him oblivious to the cold hard mound of snow at the base of IK's castle.

Right before losing consciousness from a likely concussion, the hero was utterly frozen by the revelation he had just encountered.

* * *

A/N: Ok, so didn't manage to find the time for an extra update, but I'll try my best to pull it off. Thank you for all the support so far. Feedback is always appreciated so that I know if I'm holding your attention.


	4. Seeking Payback

-Seeking Payback-

The Fire Kingdom had been normal and peaceful ever since the incident with the falling anomalies, but this fact alone did not excite Flame Princes. On the contrary, she didn't really pay her land much thought. The citizens had been doing fine on their own accord, not so much as questioning her recently enforced truth. The reason behind the fiery ruler's indifference lay in one particular boy.

_That jerk. He came over once, and that was just to talk about dungeons._

FP had a mixture of a pout and a frown on her face.

_I don't want to hear about adventures and fights; I just want someone to talk to._

As the king sighed depressingly, she noticed Cinnamon Bun walk by, holding a potted plant. She stood from her throne and strolled over to intercept the candy person.

"Hey, CB."

The loyal goof stopped and flashed his grin.

"Hi, princess."

FP gazed curiously at the item her friend was holding.

"You sure have brought in a lot of plants lately. What's up with you?"

The sweet being shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know. I just think they look nice."

Flame Princess didn't stop him as he resumed walking, placing his fire lily on a stump near the throne. She hummed thoughtfully but refocused her thinking on the subject earlier.

_Next time he shows up, I might just set his butt on fire. No wait; flame shield. Darn. Hm, maybe I'll just smack him._

Lost in her own contemplation, FP didn't notice a familiar flambit scampering across the room and up to the armrest of her royal seat.

"Hey there, your highness."

The king was pulled out of her thoughts and swung around to eye her visitor. She smiled.

"Oh, hey Flambo. What have you got for me?"

The short little flame being waited until FP sat back down before giving his announcement.

"Well, there's actually not much goin' on. The only worthwhile dirt spreading is that Finn's in the hospital."

"WHAT!?"

Flame Princess nearly burst from her chair, but contained herself and stared hard at Flambo.

"What happened?"

The flambit scratched his head, trying to recall all the details.

"From what I heard, he fell off the Ice King's mountain and hit his head on some really tough snow at the bottom. I think he's unconscious."

FP began running possible scenarios through her head, thinking first that Ice King had pushed him down, but that was unlikely, Finn wasn't that slow, or dumb. Although, he _was _dumb enough to jump off just for the heck of it.

"I'm going."

Flambo's eyes widened.

"What!? Yous can't just leave, there's peeps here who need your leadership!"

FP shook her head.

"They'll be fine while I go out for a little bit."

With that, the girl shifted into her flame form, carrying her royal armor along with her as she headed down the halls to her personal chamber. In response to the action, Flame King was stunned within his lantern prison.

"She can do that?" he asked to no one in particular.

Regardless, Cinnamon Bun shrugged as if to answer the former ruler. Flame Princess returned a moment later, shifting back into her humanoid form, although now wearing her classic dress. I was much too clumsy to travel long distances in the armor, not to mention very unappealing for friendly confrontations.

"Come on, Flambo."

The little guy nodded and hopped onto his king's shoulder. At that point, FP took to the air, exiting the palace through one of the nearby windows. Her speed was high enough that Flambo had a difficult time hanging on. By the time the two burst out of the dark ash clouds of the Fire Kingdom, their altitude made the far off Candy Kingdom just visible on the horizon.

While zooming across the grasslands, Flame Princess spotted Finn and Jake's tree house below. There was no activity as far as she could tell, meaning that Jake was likely already at the Candy Kingdom's hospital. This only caused her to accelerate further, and made it harder for her flambit companion to not blow away in the breeze.

* * *

Upon approach to the castle in the epicenter of the kingdom, FP felt slightly nervous about passing by the towering Gumball Guardians, having a fear in the back of her mind that they would suddenly wake up and say 'threat detected'. However, no such thing occurred and she proceeded to fly right towards the window leading into the infirmary.

As the fire elemental set herself down, all present in the room stared at her in surprise.

"Flame Princess? What are you doing here?" Bubblegum stated in shock.

FP ignored the question for the moment and scanned the area like lightning until her eyes found the unmoving figure of Finn. She rushed over to him, where Jake was on the opposite side of the hero's bed.

"Yeah, what _are _you doing here, FP?"

The fiery girl briefly looked up at the magical dog, a scowl on her face.

"What! You don't think I care about Finn's well-being?"

Jake backed away slightly, quite intimidated.

"Well, uh, ok. Never mind."

Flame Princess returned her attention to the knocked-out human, who was peacefully lying down, his bandaged head supported by several fluffy pillows.

"What happened to him?"

Peebles walked over and gazed at Finn's injury.

"He suffered a concussion after hitting some compacted slush in the Ice Kingdom. We haven't gotten a response out of him in hours."

Jake sighed.

"And boy, were there some weird additions to the whole crazy mess."

FP switched her sight to the dog.

"What do you mean?"

Jake gazed at the fire elemental with a serious look.

"Well, we were checking out some strange readings from Ice King's place when we caught Gunter stealing some of his lightning power. Except, it _wasn't _Gunter at all."

He furrowed his brow and looked back at Finn.

"It was some girl, using a…what did you call it PB?"

"Holographic projection."

"Yeah, that. It made her look just like a penguin, but she was actually…a human."

Flame Princess and Flambo nearly gasped. They were well aware of the scarcity of Finn's species, making this quite the news indeed.

"Did you catch her?"

Jake shook his head sadly.

"Nope. She had this nuts super power or something. It let her move like a tornado, we couldn't keep up. She ditched Finn on the way down the mountain."

The four beings in the room contemplated the dilemma. While doing so, FP absentmindedly slipped her hand onto Finn's and squeezed it gently. Her eyes were set in worry, wondering how badly the boy had been hit. Suddenly, his eyes flashed open and he took in a deep breath.

"Where is she!? Where!?"

As the hero frantically darted his eyes over the room, his companions restrained him to the bed.

"Dude, calm down!" Jake pleaded.

It took a minute, but the human was able to relax and sit up, propping himself up with the pillows.

"Ugh, my head. What's going on?"

As he rubbed his aching cranium, PB walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Finn, you were hit pretty hard in the head. I doubt you can even walk straight. Just stay off your feet."

The hero gazed with worry at the pink princess.

"Where's that girl?"

He swung over to Jake.

"Please, man, tell me you caught her."

Reluctantly, the dog shook his head. Finn was crestfallen, falling back against the wall.

"Dang."

He then noticed Flame Princess.

"FP? You came?"

The girl nervously smiled.

"Y-yeah. I heard you took a bad fall. I assumed it was you being stupid."

Finn actually laughed at that.

"Heh, might as well have been."

Princess Bubblegum had taken out a notepad and pen from her dress.

"Finn, what can you tell us about this girl?"

The human shifted his expression to one of serious thought.

"She's definitely human, she told me so. She also said her name was Fifth Arc, whatever that means."

This news confused the others.

"That certainly is an unusual name. I'll see what I can find. Meanwhile, you should get some rest, Finn. Jake can handle any further field work."

The hero was forced to agree, seeing as his head was messing with his cognitive functioning.

"Yeah, ok. Be careful, bro."

Jake nodded and added a grin, empowering his silent promise. The human felt down to his face and flinched as he touched his cheek.

"Ow! What the junk?"

His brother chuckled.

"You also got socked in the face."

Finn lightly rubbed the bruise.

"Oh yeah." He replied, remembering the blazing speed punch he'd received.

Flame Princess however, had a noticeably higher reaction, although didn't speak it. He eyes studied the purple toned skin on Finn's cheek, suddenly gaining a feeling of anger. In the meantime, PB looked to the yellow canine in the room.

"Jake, we have our next step. After talking with Slime Princess a few weeks ago, I planted several monitoring devices deep in the mucus membrane of her kingdom. These have just recently detected unusual tremors underneath the area. In addition, there are subtle readings of the same consistency as those from Ice King's castle."

The dog perked up at the last part, looking over again at his bedridden sibling.

"Got it. I'll head out as soon as possible."

Before PB could even nod, Flame Princess walked over to the pair.

"I'm going too."

The others were surprised.

"Uh, why?"

The fiery girl tightened her fists.

"Whoever that girl's with, they hurt Finn. And just like you guys, surly, I'm not letting them get away with it."

After a minute of processing the statement, both Peebles and Jake nodded.

"Alright, Flame Princess. But if you're going with Jake, you'll need a way to deal with…this."

She gestured to all of FP. She got the point and motioned to Flambo. The fire sprite hopped over to Jake and quickly chanted the flame shield incantation. Soon enough, the dog was coated in the blue shroud of the spell.

"Sweet, ok we're off. Come on, FP."

Jake allowed Flambo to jump on top of his head as the stretchy canine made his way out of the nearby window. Bubblegum nodded one last time to Flame Princess then proceeded out the hospital doors and back to her lab. Before the fiery girl left after Jake, she turned to gaze upon Finn one last time. The hero had sunk back to a lying position and fallen asleep.

FP walked over and gave him a warm smile.

"Get better soon, ok?"

However, as the fire elemental turned to walk off, her eyes caught something sticking out of the boy's pocket. Curious, Flame Princess knelt down and examined the object. It was a crumpled up piece of paper. Looking over to Finn's backpack, the young king reached over and dug around quickly for the roll of foil that the hero always kept inside.

After procuring the silvery wrap, she hastily wrapped her hands in it and gingerly yanked the wad out of Finn's pants. Unwrapping it, FP instantly saw several crossed out lines and various tidbits of notes. However, there were a few completed verses, which she proceeded to read, overwhelmed by curiously.

Several seconds later, Flame Princess's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red. She looked over to Finn, still snoozing. After quickly crumpling and replacing the paper into the human's pocket, FP stood up with a jitter and tried to leave through the window after Jake. However, she stopped, turned around as if conflicted, then decided to stroll back over to the resting boy and leaned into him.

An extremely quick peck on his cheek was the result, just fast enough not to leave a burn mark so he would never know. With that, FP blushed a little harder, albeit with a smile, and swung around, shifting into her flame form and jetting out the window.

* * *

Upon arriving at the bubbling pit that marked the entrance to the Slime Kingdom, FP and Flambo allowed Jake to cover them in his stretchy body as he threw himself into the muck. The fire elementals were protected from the sticky and wet substance as the dog was let down in a gross drop of slime. Once it released him, the canine unwrapped his form and allowed Flambo to again take his place on top of Jake's head. Flame Princess floated along next to them while the trio made their way towards the correct section of the underground caverns.

Slime Princess was waiting for them at the entrance to her sister's secret stash of military resources, which the slime people had decided to keep rather than put all that firepower to waste. However, it was currently marked off by caution tape.

"Oh thank Glob you came, we've been getting so worried about the rumbling coming from underneath the place."

Jake kneeled down to comfort the nervous princess.

"It's alright, SP. Ol' Jakey and his crew will get to the bottom of this."

He gave a thumbs up to his companions and they followed him past the yellow warning tape.

"Good luck down there," the slimy royal called after them.

The three friends made their way past the lines of tanks waiting to be deployed when necessary. It was quite intimidating, seeing all the heavy machinery silently sitting there. However, the eerie sense was soon shaken by a sudden rumbling from under the group's feet.

"Oh snap! There's the earthquakes!"

Jake stopped and placed his ear to the ground while Flambo hopped onto a nearby tank.

"Hm, I'm not getting anything. I think the slime is too gooey to send the vibration junk far enough."

Pondering for a moment, Flame Princess suddenly came up with an idea.

"I know, let's try heat sense."

The fiery girl floated closer to the ground and twirled around in midair, releasing a wave of light flames that spread across the room. Once she stopped spinning, her eyes immediately locked onto a nearby tank.

"There's an opening letting out heat under that one," she pointed out.

Jake walked over and morphed his body into a jack, beginning to slowly raise the war machine on its side and revealing the hole FP had predicted.

"Whoa. I wonder what we'll find down there."

As the dog finished pushing aside the metal contraption, he quickly stretched himself down the pit, followed closely by Flame Princess with Flambo on her shoulder. The hole extended well below the normal depth attainable in the Slime Kingdom, causing the trio to think a form of drilling was involved, which may be the cause of the tremors.

Unfortunately, when the group hit the bottom level of the pit, there was nothing but a tunnel, at least twenty feet wide, running north along the mucus-like surroundings. With caution, they pressed on, figuring they'd run into the perpetrators eventually. After a few minutes of walking, they came upon an opening, which revealed a thin vein of radioactive waste running parallel to the tunnel's path.

"So, this is what they were after, but what for?" Jake wondered.

As the fire elmentals continued studying the stream of hazardous green goo, Jake called up PB on his pink crystal.

"Yo, Prubs. We found something interesting."

The candy princess's hologram face was shown the extent of the tunneling beneath the Slime Kingdom.

"Great Gob! There's way too much structural instability down there. You guys have got to get out!"

Jake frowned.

"What about finding the perps?"

Peebles sighed.

"Alright, take a look around, but be careful. Any slight impact on those walls might bring the whole place down on you."

The princess's connection was cut off and Jake tucked the pendant back into a fold pocket on his skin.

"Ok. Everyone stay close, and let's not touch anything."

The fire elementals nodded as the trio proceeded deeper into the artificial cavern. A few more quakes shuddered around them, making the three nervous about a collapsing roof. These were significantly louder than earlier, hinting that they were closing in on the source. Once they reached a corner, Jake ordered the other two to hang back for a second as he stretched his eyeballs around the slimy wall.

On the other side was what they had been looking for. However, it astonished the magical dog nonetheless. A mountain of a man was busy punching and digging through the mucus substance composing the walls, revealing more and more sources of the radioactive waste with each hit. A few yards away from him stood a collection of barrels, each nearly spilling over with the toxic slag.

"Oh man," Jake whispered as he returned his oculi to their sockets.

"There's this huge dude carving out the place, and he's jacking the waste!"

FP leaned forward.

"What is he?"

Jake sent his whole head around again for a peek. He managed to catch the man while he was turned around, filling up another drum with the glowing chemical sludge. The canine's eyes grew wide.

"I…I can't believe it! It's another human!"

The fire elementals were shocked.

"Yous serious?" Flambo asked with a hint of skepticism.

The dog nodded.

"Definitely. His body looks just like Susan Strong's, a human-like friend of me and Finn's, but his face and that brown hair; it's totally my bro's species."

Jake looked back to the powerhouse, eagerly continuing his pounding of the slimy cave.

"Ok, here's the plan, we'll sneak up on two sides, that way he won't-"

Before he could finish the thought, a flame shot itself around the corner and straight at the hulking human.

"FP! What are you doing!?"

The princess wasn't listening, she was too busy charging a massive fireball in between her hands. The man noticed her approach and turned around with astonishment.

"What the-"

"This one's for Finn, you jerks!"

The fiery ruler blasted her enormous projectile at the human, intending to fry his buns off before he could dodge. Unfortunately, he didn't have to. Just before the searing object was upon him, the big guy smashed his giant fist into the ground with the full force of his muscular arm. The resulting impact threw up tons of slimy material, blocking the fireball and fizzling it out instantly.

When the gunk settled, the towering human glared at the stunned fire elemental.

"You dare to mess with me? You've got guts, fire lady."

He took a step forward and cracked his knuckles as Jake and Flambo caught up to their hotheaded companion. Jake didn't waste any time in enlarging his fist and firing it at the approaching human. Sadly, his attack fared worse than Flame Princess's. The man blocked the punch, not even being forced back an inch by its impact. Jake was shocked; more so when his opponent suddenly grabbed his wrist and yanked the dog forward. A solid punch to the face was delivered to the yellow canine as his body was helplessly pulled in. After getting thrown back, FP was able to catch him midflight.

"Jake! Are you alright?"

The dog had a shiny black eye and a bit of blood coming out of his nose. Regardless he grinned.

"Ugh. Yeah. I'm cool. But man, can that guy punch. And he's mad strong too."

Once the trio resumed a fighting stance, the human resumed his closing in on them. He hadn't even broken a sweat dealing with Jake. Noticeably, there was a strange symbol within a circle on his dark muscle shirt. It appeared to display 'VI'.

"You're all going to regret trying to tangle with Sixth Arc."

The trio's eyes narrowed at this declaration, then the enemy suddenly charged at them like a crazed elephant.

* * *

A/N: Sweet, managed to get in an extra update. I hope it's appreciated.


	5. Down but not Out

-Down but not Out-

Jake was giving it his all to get up off the slimy surface of the cave. His beaten and possibly broken body desperately diverted energy to his arms, determined to keep the dog awake. He stared across the cavern, over to where Flame Princess and Flambo were still trying their best to take down the mysterious man whom they encountered within the waste-filled tunnel.

The powerful human had taken but a minute to relentlessly crush Jake into the floor. Frightfully, the magical dog estimated that the guy was at least three times _stronger _than Susan. As he watched the ongoing struggle, his arms began failing once more, unable to support him.

FP shouted out as her back hit the wall, sliding down the damp material around her and further increasing the pain as her flames reacted poorly with the surroundings. Meanwhile, the man declaring himself as Sixth Arc was rapidly swiping all over his body, trying to catch the flambit crawling on him. The little guy's plan was to cause enough burning to bring the foe down, thus saving his clearly outmatched friends.

Unfortunately, it only took a single slap to throw the fiery being right into Flame Princess, who managed to soften his hit by catching him in her arms, regardless of the stinging all over her backside.

"Are you ok, Flambo?"

The short fellow chuckled weakly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's yous I should be askin'."

FP carefully stood up and lifted herself off the ground, just enough to no longer be touching the slime. Not only was Sixth Arc immensely stronger than them, but the environment was one that he was more acquainted with. The human was swiftly patting out the embers all over his shirt, slightly hissing angrily from the pinching burns.

Flame Princess looked over to Jake, who was by now flat on his face; still attempting to crawl towards the enemy.

"It's no use. We can't win like this. I have to grab Jake too and get us out of here."

Flambo agreed with his highness. Sadly, the human did not.

"I don't think so, fire girl. I've already told you my name, and I only do so when I'm fully dedicated to exterminating my opponents. You'll die in this cavern, where your broken bodies will float endlessly down this stream of waste."

Sixth Arc charged once again, aiming to smash the princess into the wall directly behind her. Luckily, she dodged out of the way, but was surprised by how quickly the man recovered and turned around.

"Not that easy!"

He reached out and instantly grabbed FP by the throat, causing her to drop Flambo. The fiery sprite winced from the contact with the wet slime, helpless to aid his king as she struggled to break free. She managed to fire one blast of flames in his face, nearly making him lose his grip.

"Agh! Damn it! Gotta make this quick."

He ignored the searing pain and moved to snap Flame Princess's neck. Alas, he didn't get the chance.

A massive rumbling shook the cavern, forcing Sixth Arc to drop the princess and back away, staring with confusion at the ceiling. Soon enough, a huge construct burrowed its way into the cave, releasing a large pile of debris that nearly buried the human. As the mysterious object settled down and coiled itself, it was revealed to be none other than Princess Bubblegum's gigantic sand worm.

The pink monarch was visible through the beast's glass cockpit, where she was worriedly looking around the cave for the others.

"Jake! Flame Princess! Flambo! Where are you guys?"

The persons in question all emerged from the debris and gaze with astonishment at the arriving princess.

"PB! What are you doing here?" Jake asked weakly.

Peebles opened the hatch to the worm and gestured for them to climb in.

"I was major dumb for sending you guys in here. I just recently detected the radioactive signature down here, that's a major hazard for you. Plus, the moisture in here can't be easy for fire elementals."

FP and Flambo nodded, admitting the truth of that statement. Suddenly, Sixth Arc tore himself out of the pile of slime, quickly dashing over to his collected barrels of waste and hooked two of them to his massive back using heavily reinforced straps around his chest. PB narrowed her eyes.

"Don't even!"

She commanded the worm to smack the man with its huge tail. Amazingly, Sixth Arc simply leveled the approaching extremity with his fist, instantly cracking and blowing the tail apart. All faces grew stunned in utter disbelief, none more so than Bubblegum's.

"That's impossible! That biomass was meant to even withstand heavy pressure!"

The muscular human paid no attention to her comment, but instead went over and punched a hole in the wall of the cavern, immediately revealing a hidden tunnel.

"He's got an escape plan! We have to stop him," FP cried out.

Sadly, the human had already bounded down his premade route to freedom, carrying away the large stockpile of radioactive sludge. It was much too small of an area to pursue him with, especially considering the now heavily damaged sand worm. Next, the cave began to shake, raining globs of slime all over. PB gestured once again to her companions.

"Hurry! Get in!"

Flame Princess grabbed Jake's still weak form and flew herself and her two friends into the cockpit of Peebles' transport. The candy monarch quickly closed the hatch and commanded the worm to go back up the tunnel it had carved on the way down. The beast struggled, due to its lost tail, but was able to slowly make its way up the pit and towards the open air, leaving behind the cavern to finish its structural collapse.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum took one last look at the reconstruction effort the banana guards were performing on her worm. She sighed sadly before turning and walking through the automatic doors to exit the large scale lab. The pink lady proceeded to walk a few doors down the hall, coming up to an elevator, which she hastily entered and punched in the number for the hospital floor.

As a ding signaled, the twin doors split open and revealed the front entrance to the infirmary, which the monarch walked into swiftly. There, in addition to Finn, Jake and Flame Princess sat on the edges of their own beds, one being covered in flame-retardant blankets, recovering from their injuries. FP's weren't that bad, just a few scrapes and doused spots on her back. These were covered in special tinfoil bandages that Peebles had synthesized. Flambo was loyally sitting beside her.

Jake on the other hand, was in a full arm sling and had wrappings around his head, torso, and left leg. His black eye had gone down, but still looked quite bad. Regardless, he was keeping a good spirit by smiling as the princess walked in.

"How are you guys doing?" the monarch asked.

The magical dog gave a thumbs up.

"Solid, Prubs. Just fine."

Flame Princess just nodded silently and held her gaze. She was watching over Finn, who was at the next bed over, still asleep. Bubblegum came over and checked the human's pulse.

"He's fine, Flame Princess," she proclaimed with an encouraging smile.

"His heart rate and blood flow seems normal. He's just resting at this point."

The fiery ruler nodded absentmindedly. Peebles went over to Jake and checked his head.

"You really took a beating, Jake. Who was that guy?"

The dog winced a bit at the contact to his temple but held on and looked with concern at the floor.

"He called himself Sixth Arc. And just like that girl with the similar name, he was human."

PB crossed her arms, also gazing down at the floor in thought.

"I thought so. This is getting very concerning. These individuals are planning something, and they don't want Ooo to know about it. I think it's quite clear…"

She looked out the nearby window.

"That they are connected to the falling objects from several weeks ago."

The others all looked up at the princess, who switched her vision to the assembled group.

"We must be careful. So far, three of the five kingdoms targeted by those unknown anomalies have experienced some form of thievery."

She nodded as Jake's eyes widened.

"That's right. I believe my stolen charts were these humans' doing as well."

The monarch turned to FP.

"Flame Princess, I highly suggest you put your entire staff on alert. There may be a spy among your people."

The fire elemental nodded, seeing the worth in such an act. Peebles walked off to the side.

"Now, about the Goblin Kingdom."

Before she continued, there was a groan. All eyes looked to Finn, who had finally begun waking up. Naturally, FP was the first to go over and try to help him up, but quickly stopped when she remembered the hero didn't have a flame shield. Flambo happily took care of that soon enough. As Flame Princess supported Finn's back, he shook his head and rubbed the top of it.

"Man. Still aches a bit, but I think I'm good to go."

Peebles shook her head.

"Not quite, Finn. And especially if you were planning to go out and search for those humans."

The boy was puzzled.

"Human**s**?"

The others recalled that he'd been out of it the whole time.

"Jake, Flame Princess, and Flambo went to investigate the Slime Kingdom. What they found was a human man stealing radioactive waste from the deepest regions of the mucus caverns."

Finn was astonished by this.

"There's…more?"

He gazed down to his lap, trying to absorb all the information.

"This is…this is incredible. After all this time, more humans."

Before his bro could get _too _excited, Jake walked over and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I hate to tell you this, dude, but these ones are nasty. The guy we ran into nearly cooked our gooses."

Finn's expression held to its awed state, then shifted to one of determination.

"You never know, Jake! They might be…I don't know, doing something really important and it's just too sensitive and junk. Stuff like that can happen."

The dog was about to argue but his best friend turned to PB to strengthen his argument.

"Isn't that right, Prubs?"

His tone was noticeably a bit darker, slightly putting off the princess.

"Y-yes, but-"

Finn hopped off the bed, startling everyone. Remarkably, his injuries didn't instantly force him to fall down.

"No buts, I'm going to find these humans and either get some answers or take them down."

Jake stretched his arm around his bro before Finn could take one more step towards the door.

"Dude, the three of us couldn't even take down _one _of them. Who knows how many super-powered psychos are roaming Ooo right now."

The hero shook off the rope-like limb and continued walking.

"I don't care. I've never gotten this close. Whether you help or not, I'm hunting them down one by-"

A warm hand fell onto his shoulder. Finn swung around to face the obstructive individual, only to receive a firm slap across the face. His fanatic attitude instantly vanished as he laid eyes on Flame Princess, who was looking at him with a worried expression. The human just stood there, ignoring the stinging on his cheek.

"FP…"

The fire elemental closed her eyes.

"For once, Finn, don't be stupid, please."

Stunned, the hero simply stared into the girl's glowing face. There was nothing but concern etched into her features.

"…Ok."

He hung his head, but in turn, was caught in a hug by the fiery ruler.

"Thank you."

After FP backed away, Finn turned to face PB.

"If we're dealing with crazy humans, then it's probably best to gather some peeps to help us out."

The princess nodded.

"Right. I'll call Marceline. She can help us keep an eye on the other kingdoms."

Flame Princess stepped forward.

"I should be getting back, no telling if there's something bad going on right now."

The others nodded, offering a goodbye as the fire elemental shot out of the window. Finn returned to his bed, lying back down with a sigh. His bro walked over and patted the boy's knee.

"It'll be alright, dude, these guys can't be unstoppable."

The hero grinned.

"Yeah. No one is unstoppable."

Jake chuckled a bit.

"Well, I don't know about that. You're pretty tough there, man. I've seen- er, been with you, while you aimlessly jumped into volcanoes. I can't think of anyone who can take more of a beating than you."

Finn smiled at his supportive friend.

"Thanks, Jake."

With that, Peebles left the room, leaving the two adventurers to rest up after their rather painful encounters with the mysterious humans.

* * *

Deep beneath the grounds of the Candy Kingdom, well hidden and ravaged by the worst criminal scum imaginable, lay Princess Bubblegum's secret royal dungeon. Within its near infinite catacombs, a blur was streaking further and further down the various floors of the structure. It whisked by at such speeds that the villains trapped within didn't even get the chance to make out a feature.

The blur shot down flight after flight of cold stone stairs, intent on reaching its destination as fast as possible. It took but a minute until the unknown force arrived in an average sized chamber, inhabited by not a single prisoner. The anomaly instantly stopped, decelerating to zero in a split second. This revealed it to be a young girl.

"I'm back."

She waited. Then, several figures, cloaked by the darkness the surrounding torches just couldn't cut, stepped forward. They converged on the female, as if studying if she were an intruder. One of the silhouettes came right up to her and held out a slender hand. She complied and removed a good sized lightning bolt from within her jacket, handing it to the other bieng.

The shrouded figure examined the item briefly, before slipping it into a pocket that wasn't visible to the eye.

"Well done, V."

The now distinctly more mature feminine voice made a small pause.

"I can see you ran into some…complications."

The younger girl frowned and looked at her beltline, which held a strange device clipped onto her pants. It was slightly damaged.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but…I blew my cover."

The older one thought for a moment.

"I know. I know every detail. The reports are easy enough to obtain from the princess's desk. You told them your name."

The younger one's expression became frightful.

"I-I just, I felt so…bad. This guy, he's human, but he's never met another one of us."

The owner of the older voice reached out and placed a reassuring hand on the girl.

"It is alright, V. I understand. But, we cannot afford any more mistakes. They have already started investigating, and we have a ways to go before completing our objective. When the time is right, we can make contact."

The one known as V nodded.

"Alright. Thank you, Duo."

A nod came from the barely visible head of the woman as well. Suddenly, a rumbling sounded through the damp corridors of the dungeon.

"Speaking of mistakes…"

A nearby wall burst into pieces, revealing the towering figure of a man, carrying two large objects on his back. V turned and looked at him, an expression of shock on her face.

"Hex! What the heck is wrong with you? You can't just bash your way through everything!"

The man grumbled and set down the two massive barrels he'd been carrying in the corner of the room.

"Too bad, I was in a hurry."

A masculine scoff came from beside Duo.

"Nice going, you moron. You'll lead them right down here with all the noise you make."

The muscular man growled at the hidden being.

"Shut up, Quad! Or I'll plant your head into the floor."

The other man held up his hands.

"Whoa, chill, man!"

"Enough!"

Duo stamped her foot down, earning the room's attention.

"No more. We function together, that is a given. Nothing is gained if we argue."

The two men withdrew their attitudes and nodded.

"Right," they both responded.

Having settled the confrontation, Duo looked to the barrels of toxic waste.

"Just a few more resources left."

She swung around to face the last figure, who was quietly waiting in the shadows.

"How is it going on your end, Tres?"

The final being took a step forward.

"I'm getting closer, I should be able to reach it in a matter of days."

Duo nodded.

"Well done."

She turned to address her entire group.

"Alright. Let us get back to our posts. There may arise suspicion if we are gone too long."

The two on either side of her acknowledged, departing for their separate destinations. The others however, remained standing in front of their ally.

"What about me and Hex? What can we do?"

Duo pondered the question for only a moment, before looked down at the young girl.

"Do what you do best, V. You will act as our scout. Keep track of that human and his companions. If they get too close, inform me."

V nodded happily and was off, disappearing at breakneck speed. In the meantime, the juggernaut of a man gazed down at Duo.

"And me?"

The woman reached into another unknown pocket and held a rolled up parchment out to the man, who retrieved it.

"I managed to acquire this in addition to the data. It leads to the location of the Candy Kingdom's now buried toxic river. We still need more of the chemicals. But please, this time, do not be so arrogant as to assume your foes will fall without having the chance to grab valuable information from you."

Hex grunted in reply, accepting the terms.

"I know. I'm sorry, Duo."

The woman smiled, although it was unseen beneath the darkness.

"All is well, my friend. Sadly, as enlightened as I am, I fear I am no leader. That is a role to be filled by another."

The two beings stood in momentary silence, before Hex gave a final goodbye and 'carefully' broke down a nearby wall, following the instructions on the map. Duo sighed and walked over to a nearby pillar of stone. She gently pressed one of the bricks, which reacted, cranking a system of gears from somewhere nearby.

The result lowered an elevator-like platform, which the lady promptly walked onto. After pulling the lever within the housing, the lift was strung into the air, slowly raising Duo back up to the top of the dungeon, where she could exit and return to her infiltration.

As the top floor emerged, she activated the holographic modulator clipped to her beltline, reforming her appearance into the being she was impersonating. She stepped out of the dungeon, and back into the sugar coated kingdom.

* * *

A/N: More reviews! Awesome! Thank you! I see I've been making each chapter shorter. Don't worry, that'll change.


	6. Mind Games

-Mind Games-

Flame Princess had chosen to wait till morning to announce the hunt for an imposter. The fiery girl was still exhausted from the previous encounter with the enigmatic Sixth Arc. Whatever he was, she wanted to know exactly how to hurt him, make him feel the same pain Finn did. What she couldn't quite understand was, why?

As she was walking down to the throne room, FP contemplated her feelings as best she could.

_He was always protective, especially when I got hurt. Am I repaying him? Is that why I feel so angry that they hurt him?_

The king shook her head, deciding to put it off until her declaration had been stated. She had assembled her finest warriors in the palace, eager to receive orders of the upmost importance. As Flame Princess reached the room and walked to her throne, she noticed the now overflowing amount of flora in the surroundings.

Cinnamon Bun was tending to his plants, happily laughing as he trimmed their leaves and repositioned them in their pots. FP smiled.

_Such a happy guy. I'm glad he's found a hobby._

Once the young ruler sat in her seat, she cleared her throat, gathering the attention of the mighty legion before her.

"Warriors of the Fire Kingdom, a hidden deceit hangs over our land. There is reason to believe that a spy is present among us. They are an outright liar, keeping their identity secret and stealing information to wrongfully spread. We must find and punish this individual, no matter the cost."

She raised her arm.

"Go, extinguish this plague of lies."

The soldiers all bowed to their king, then proceeded orderly out of the palace, heading out into the kingdom in search of the deceiver. A tap was felt on FP's shoulder. Se turned to see CB grinning at her.

"Can I help?"

Flame Princess chuckled at the candy person's enthusiasm.

"Sure, Cinnamon Bun. You can um…Oh! You can keep putting up all these lovely plants."

In all honesty, she'd hated the vegetation at first, but now, they were catching on to her. CB clapped his hands.

"Yay! How will that help?"

FP furrowed her brow, thinking of something.

"Maybe the spy will become distracted by their beauty and stick out like a sore thumb."

Her companion giggled a bit.

"Haha, just like Finn when he looks at you."

Flame Princess couldn't keep her face from turning the same shade as her hair. The fire elemental looked away, hoping the jolly candy person would return to his tending. Mercifully, he did. FP breathed a sigh of relief, not wanting to deal with embarrassment this early in the day.

Suddenly, a palace servant ran up to her, holding up a telephone.

"Your highness, a call from the princess of the Candy Kingdom."

Normally, Flame Princess was still too reserved to speak with PB, but, she secretly hoped that this was something about the humans, which caused her to accept the call.

"Hello?"

"Flame Princess, I wanted to keep you posted on the situation, since your kingdom is involved as well. There's been some unusual activity at the Goblin Kingdom. I already sent Marceline to check it out, but was thinking you might want to join in."

FP was rather surprised. The candy woman was showing great camaraderie.

"S-sure. I'll come."

"Excellent. Let me know what you find out. Bye."

She hung up. Flame Princess was about to hand the phone back to the servant, but then changed her mind and sent him off. After sitting there for a moment, she punched in the number for the phone Finn always had in his backpack, which should be near his hospital bed.

_Please be awake, _she hoped as the device rang several times.

"Hello?"

"Finn, hi. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, hey, FP. I'm alright. Still a bit sore in the head, but other than that, I feel like I could take on ten giants."

The princess smiled.

"That's good to hear. Is Jake also better?"

"Eh, hard to tell. He's so lazy it _always_ looks like he's bedridden."

The two teens laughed at both ends of the receiver.

"Haha, I'll bet."

Not that she'd admit it, but FP had only asked about Jake so as to not make it look like she was exclusively calling for Finn.

"So, anyway, Bubblegum told me a few minutes ago that there's some stuff going on in the Goblin Kingdom. I'm about to head over there."

She couldn't see it, but was betting the human was frowning.

"The Goblin Kingdom? Flame Princess…are you sure it's a good idea for you to go there?"

The fire elemental was expecting that, in fact, it was the real reason she'd called; to get some opinion and support.

"Well, what do you think? I mean, I really want to help with this whole mess, Finn. I want to find out who these people are and what they're planning."

"Me too. I'm glad to have someone like you on the investigation."

She smiled.

"Thanks. So, do you think I could go?"

There was a pause. The young hero was taking his time pondering the inquiry. FP was nervous about the verdict. It was more than a decision; to her, it was a statement of how much faith the human had in her.

"You know what? Go for it, FP."

The fire elemental nearly gasped from the reply.

"R-really? You mean it?"

A chuckle.

"Sure! You're the awesome ruler of the Fire Kingdom now, not a girl who burns down places for fun. Well, most of the time."

Flame Princess didn't mind the joke, she was too busy listening to the positive stuff, along with her blush.

"Just walk in, say 'Finn the Human said I'm awesome' and you'll be shaking hands left and right- er, well, they'll like you."

FP giggled, noticing the boy's increasing confusion to his own words.

"Thanks so much, Finn. I was really nervous about going back."

The human grinned on the other end of the line.

"No probs. You can always ask for my help, anytime, anywhere."

There was a dramatic pause as FP's flames grew slightly.

"But, can you promise me one thing, Flame Princess?"

"What's that?"

"If…if you run into another one of those super humans, please, don't fight them alone. Ok?"

The princess thought about this request, recalling how much she wanted to avenge the hero.

"I…ok. I promise."

"Thanks. I don't want you to get hurt. You're important to a lot of people, including me."

FP recalled the paper she'd read from Finn's pocket.

"I know."

"What?"

"Uh, never mind. Get some rest, bye."

"Ok, by-"

She hung up, trying to hold back another blush.

"That was close," she muttered to herself.

The king got up from her throne and looked over to her sugary companion.

"Hey, Cinnamon Bun, I'm heading out to the Goblin Kingdom. Watch the place, would you?"

The bashful candy person saluted.

"You got it."

FP nodded and proceeded to flame form herself all the way back to her room, intent on replacing the armor she was wearing. On this particular visit, it was **highly **important not to look intimidating. Once she had a simple dress on, Flame Princess shot out of her room and into the ash clouds of her realm.

Breaking through the dark obstructions, the fiery girl entered a downward charge, using her current altitude and the prevailing winds to glide her swiftly towards the distant Goblin Kingdom.

* * *

FP had a hunch that she was getting faster, seeing as it only took a few minutes for her to reach the magnificent city that had been reconstructed after her rampage. She was still feeling nervous, but pushed on by imagining Finn's encouraging words.

_You're the awesome ruler of the Fire Kingdom now…_

Nearing the walls of the kingdom, Flame Princess decided it would be much more passive to land outside and ask for permission to enter the city. She politely stopped at the gate, where a pair of guards eyed her, instantly growing fear on their faces.

"Ah! The fire lady! She's back!"

The pair cowered on the ground, holding their shields up in pitiful defense. FP sighed, realizing this may be more difficult than she thought. Keeping her cool, the girl walked up to one of the goblins and knelt down next to him.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you."

The guard cautiously lowered his shield to gaze upon the fire elemental.

"Why not? You had no trouble hurting a lot of us all that time ago."

Flame Princess frowned, now having been directly reminded of her past mistakes.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that. I was confused, angry, and didn't know a lot about the outside world. I shouldn't have started setting your butts and houses on fire. Please, I'm trying to atone."

Both guards momentarily stopped shaking, looking at each other from opposite sides of the gate. They gulped, then stood up slowly, not daring to lower their wooden protection.

"Um…ok. But, how can we be sure?"

He stuttered heavily, apparently afraid that the question had sounded more like a threat, which would mean the end of him and his buddy. Instead however, Flame Princess took more of her friend's advice.

"Finn the Human says I'm awesome."

As if by magic, the two goblin's expressions perked up.

"You know Finn? For real? And he says you're cool?"

The pair went over to the gate controls and began cranking the mechanism. Soon enough, the iron gate opened, revealing the entrance to the kingdom. The two guards walked back over, now smiling.

"Welcome to our humble city, miss. I hope your visit is a pleasant one."

Flame Princess was dumbfounded by the sudden acceptance, but decided to let sleeping dogs lie and strolled into the Goblin's home.

"Oh, hang on a second."

One of the guards whistled, calling over another goblin, who asked what he could do. The guard whispered in his comrade's ear, occasionally gesturing to FP. She just stood there, curious. After the conversation ended, both nodded and the recent arrival pulled out a picket sign, quickly writing a message on it with a marker. After finishing, he walked over to Flame Princess and held the message above her head:

**Finn the Human says she's awesome**

Bewildered, but deciding to go with it, the girl shrugged and walked into the open streets of the kingdom, with the sign holder following vigilantly the whole way. Goblins that they came across first gasped in fright, before noticing the message and letting out a relieved breath, followed by a wave.

FP waved back, still amazed that this was happening, as she made her way towards the most obvious source of information; the palace. It was a short trip, since all the citizens gladly parted a path for the young lady to pass. She smiled thankfully at them, thinking that her reputation was truly beginning to mend itself.

At the entrance to the palace, there was a pair of actually threatening looking guards. They glanced down at Flame Princess, not really paying mind to her sign attendant.

"State your business," one of then grumbled.

FP cleared her throat and gave a small bow.

"I, the ruler of the Fire Kingdom, would like to speak with the king."

The two grunts eyed each other, then nodded and stepped aside.

"You may enter, your highness."

Flame Princess thanked the two and proceeded inside, still tailed by the messenger. Inside, she quickly came upon the goblin throne, which was currently occupied by the 'benevolent' Whisper Dan. Gummy was standing loyally by his side, appearing to be listening to some crucial instruction. However, upon noticing the princess, the chief of staff swiftly turned and gave the visitor a bow.

"Welcome, miss. The king bides you a pleasant stay at our humble city."

FP thanked the goblin, who redirected it to his king, and stepped forward. For a moment, she was unsure.

"Um, do I speak to the king?" she asked.

_Do you have any idea how stupid you just sounded?_

Luckily, Gummy paid it no mind and nodded.

"Indeed, your majesty. However, I will be the one to put voice to his words."

The goblin beckoned to his liege.

"Oh, of course."

He turned back to FP.

"We've had another recent visitor. You may know her. Marceline the Vampire Queen."

Flame Princess nodded. Although, she'd never actually met the girl. Finn had always insisted she was great, which made her a bit jealous; when they were still going out that is. The doors to the throne room burst open, followed by the entrance of a floating black-haired girl with a bizarre looking weapon strapped to her back.

When the girl spotted FP, she grinned.

"Well, if it isn't the weenie's little firefly."

Flame Princess controlled the coloring of her cheeks and frowned at the lady.

"That wasn't exactly the best way for us to greet each other for the first time."

Marcy laughed.

"Did Finn forget to mention I mess with people? You'd think that would be the number one warning."

FP watched as the floating girl pulled out her weapon and began strumming it absentmindedly, revealing that it was also an instrument.

_This is the 'awesome' Marceline?_

The vampire suddenly noticed the sign holder, grinning with amusement.

"Wow. Nice message. He sure sprang a lot for the extra support. Are you two going out again?"

Flame Princess's flames grew out significantly.

"No! Cut it out!"

Marcy put her bass back and held up her hands.

"Chill out, girl. I'm just having some fun with you."

The vampire sighed.

"Well, let's get down to business."

She floated higher in the air, crossing her legs and putting her arms behind her back.

"Bonnibel wanted us to check out some crazy junk out here."

FP hovered up to match the bassist's height.

"Which is…?"

Marcy casually pointed out of the high window.

"That."

Flame Princess turned to look, instantly growing wide eyed. A massive mountain of scrap metal was being culminated in the center of the city, towering almost as high as the kingdom's tallest tower.

"What the heck? Why would the goblins do such a thing?"

Marceline shrugged.

"Beats me. But, how about this. I'll go scan the place like little miss bubblegum wanted, and you go ask them."

Before FP could argue, the vampire had already flown out the window. The fire elemental was on her last nerve with that girl. At least now she wouldn't be tempted to burn her alive. Setting back down on the ground, Flame Princess walked over to Whisper Dan.

"So, um, why are you having your people pile all your useful metals in a big heap?"

Gummy told the king he would answer for him.

"The king is happy to offer an explanation, but first, he would like for you to speak to a good ally of ours."

Confused, FP could only guess as the doors to the throne room opened, letting in a surprising amount of light. Once the illumination returned the fiery girl's sight, she was astonished by the person who entered.

"Finn!? What are you doing here?"

The human walked in nonchalantly, smiling widely as he came up to FP.

"I'm helping out. The doc said I was good to go so I headed over to check out the kingdom. How are you doing?"

The princess was still shocked. There was no way this guy was standing so easily. He'd been conked quite brutally in the noggin. His concentration and balance would be way off.

"I-I'm fine. But, you, you should be in bed, just a little while ago you were saying your head still hurt."

The human smirked.

"Na. I feel great now."

FP nervously let out a smile.

"Like you could take down ten giants?"

The boy looked at her with a hollow grin.

"Yeah, sure."

Flame Princess was unsettled.

"I see. Well, the king said he'd tell me what the metal mountain is for if I talk to you."

Finn looked curiously over to the seated Whisper Dan.

"Really? Ok. Let's talk."

He promptly took hold of FP's hand and walked her over to the side of the room. She blushed a bit at the act.

"So, what should we talk about?"

Flame Princess looked around nervously at the floor, unsure of the human's altered behavior.

_Maybe that hit to his head messed him up._

Finally getting the guts to look the hero in the eyes, FP smiled back and replied.

"How about…what you think of the humans?"

Finn shrugged, looking a bit bored.

"Na. That doesn't sound like a nice subject right now."

Flame Princess admittedly had to agree with that one. Suddenly, Finn leaned on the wall they were near and came just a bit closer to the fire elemental.

"How about…us?" he suggested.

The fiery ruler did a double-take.

"Huh?"

Finn just kept smiling.

"You know, it's been nice hanging out with you lately."

FP was cautious.

"What do you mean? The last time we hung out all you did was talk about dungeons."

The human slapped his forehead.

"Did I? Wow, I'm a huge butt for that."

He laughed, but something was wrong with it.

"Are you sure you're ok, Finn?"

The hero smirked.

"Of course, I feel awesome, just like you are."

Well, that was a bit more like Finn. Perhaps she was overreacting. Unexpectedly, the human suddenly dropped his expression to a frown.

"FP, I…I miss you. A lot."

The young ruler recoiled.

"Finn, what are you doing?"

"I just…being without you, it hurts, it hurts my heart."

He looked legitimately sad at this point, but FP was still stunned.

"Please, can't we try again? I would do anything for that chance."

Flame Princess took a step back.

"Finn, why are you doing this? What's gotten into you?"

The human shed a tear, further shocking the fire elemental. He brought his hands together, as if praying to her.

"Please, I beg of you. I want to hug you, hold you, be close to you…love you."

Flame Princess backed right into the other wall, so frozen by shock she didn't know where she was heading.

"Finn, stop it! No! You're…scaring me!"

The human stood there, not saying anything for a moment before reaching back and pulling out his sword.

"Wh-what are you doing?" a now frightened FP asked.

To her horror, the boy brought the blade of the weapon to his neck, closing his eyes.

"I…I can't live…without your heart."

Before the princess could stop him, Finn slid the sword over his vulnerable skin, causing the fire elemental to scream at the top of her lungs as the hero fell to the floor instantly. Her eyes were immediately flooded with tears as she fell to her knees, her mind shattered by what she just witnessed.

FP couldn't turn away, she was in too much disbelief.

"That's…impossible…Finn…"

Splotches of lava covered the floor in front of her knees. She bawled her eyes out, devastated by the sight.

"No!...No, no, no…this isn't right!..."

She sobbed for what seemed like hours before an edgy laugh filled the room. Flame Princess broke out of her despair, darting her eyes around the room. She noticed that Gummy had left. Only herself and Whisper Dan remained in the room. As a matter of fact, the laughter was coming from the king himself.

Standing up slowly, Flame Princess gazed at the golem with utter confusion.

"What are…"

She stopped herself as the king's figure began to fizzle. His body appeared to be static, until it finally reshaped itself, forming a being that wasn't that much smaller than the golem, but still obviously a different person. FP's soaked eyes widened significantly, recognizing the body type.

"You…you're…human."

The man sat up from his slouch, grinning maliciously. He wore a furred coat, along with slick black pants and shoes. Around his neck hung an hourglass necklace. Below that, there was a circle embedded in his gray shirt, which held the symbol 'IV'. He was almost bald, having only enough hair to cover the top of his head. His fairly prominent teeth gleamed as he continued his snickering.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. You totally fell for it!"

Swinging back to look upon 'Finn', FP found that the boy's body had vanished. She looked back to the man, who stood up from the throne and cracked his neck.

"Man, that thing is not comfortable at all. I got so stiff I might have to crack every section of my spine."

He seemed to be talking to himself. Due to his apparent narcissistic personality, he didn't notice Flame Princess's combustion levels increasing.

"I'm going to fry off your flesh, then crush your scorched skeleton with my bare hands."

The human whistled.

"Whoa, good one."

He took a set forward.

"I'm not much of a fan for the shadows. I might get busted for this, but as long as you don't talk, I'll be safe."

He took an eccentric bow.

"May I present, Fourth Arc, master of deceit and illusions."

Out of nowhere, an entire crowd materialized, clapping intently for the man as he offered his thanks.

"Thank you. Thank you. You're too kind."

The mass dissipated, being replaced by an entire army of 'Finns'. Flame Princess gazed in astonishment as the human held his hands behind his back and let out a sadistic grin.

"Now, my dear, this is the part where I drive you to the brink of insanity. We'll see if your friends will understand anything you babble after this performance, hahaha!"

FP turned and looked at the door. She could make a break for it; go get help, maybe Marceline. She looked back at Fourth Arc, flashing his disgusting smile. Her fists tightened.

_After what he did? No. I won't let him walk away from that._

She shed one single last tear, before igniting herself fully and charging at the human dead on.

_I'm sorry Finn, but that hurt too much…_

* * *

A/N: In hear its considerate and encouraging to respond to a review. I think I'll do that from now on. Ugh! Stupid file won't save the person's name though. What a pain.

: Thank you so much for the kind words and support. It is a real aid to my will to keep writing.


	7. A Promise Broken

-A Promise Broken-

Once Flame Princess had learned that the illusionary clones of Finn would simply fade into the wind upon elimination, it made it somewhat easier to deal with them all. However, the fact that they kept uttering statements that only the real Finn would know caused excessive stress to the fire elemental. In between telling herself that they were fakes, she had to wonder how on earth Fourth Arc had such information.

The human illusionist was back in the goblin throne, casually watching FP fight as if it were an action movie. Every so often, he would even compliment or warn her of an incoming strike from one of the fakes' swords.

The young ruler at first though why bother dodging a nonexistent weapon, but found out the hard way that her foes could inflict quite real damage, as evidenced by the cut on her arm. She didn't have time to argue about how it was possible though, there were too many blades aimed at her neck.

Left and right, Flame Princess sliced the clones in half, causing them to dissipate into the air. Even more heart-wrenching, every time she did so, the dying illusion would do its best to tear apart her mind.

As another 'Finn' fell, it gazed at FP with pleading eyes that stung in her chest.

"FP, why?"

The voice was so pained, so agonized, that the fiery ruler was beginning to tremble. On the opposite end of the spectrum, those that were still fighting her wore cheerful and friendly smiles, as if they truly were the great hero of Ooo himself. Flame Princess was thankful that she'd run out of tears earlier, for she was sure her vision would be blurred by the lava spilling out of her eyes.

The fire elemental missed one of the clones, allowing it to bash her in the head with the hilt of its sword. She cried out in pain and stumbled back a few feet, giving the remaining illusions time to surround her and barricade any chance of escape with a wall of blades. FP darted her eyes from Finn to Finn, trying to find some way to get away. Sadly, with the amount of humble smiles and good-natured grins they were sending her way, she was too broken up to even move.

Flame Princess managed to spy Fourth Arc through the crowd. Surprisingly, he wasn't gloating or even grinning. He was holding his head up with his arm, frowning and looking at the floor. He seemed to be in pain. In that same moment, the illusions stalled, freezing in place. FP took advantage, slicing through them all until not a single one remained.

The human noticed his quarry's actions and shook his head, attempting to remove whatever was bothering him.

"Ngh. I'm not done."

Flame Princess was about to run up and smash the jerk in the face, but was suddenly surprised by a new line of 'Finns'. She shook her head, trying desperately to remind herself that they weren't the real hero. As Fourth Arc's defense fell, he seemed to start panicking.

"No way, I won't lose to a-"

He stuttered; not because someone interrupted him, but because some_thing_ interrupted him. FP gazed in shock at the sword now impaling the man, whose eyes were wide with astonishment. Fourth Arc made no noise as his body fell to the floor. He went limp, apparently instantly expunged of life.

Flame Princess turned towards the source of the weapon's flight, becoming stunned when she saw a familiar face leaning into the window.

"Finn!"

The young hero was panting, obviously tired. Before he could answer, his foot slipped from the edge of the sill and he plummeted to the floor with a thud.

"Oh my Glob! Are you ok?"

FP ran up to the boy and gathered him up. He still had a large wrapping around his head. Regardless, he managed to push through a small grin.

"I'll live. I guess."

He chuckled, rubbing his head gently.

"Man, that guy was bananas."

Flame Princess looked over at the fallen Fourth Arc.

"Yeah. But, I don't understand, why would you just kill him? That's not like you."

Finn gave the girl a serious look.

"FP, he was threatening your life, I'm not going to risk a guy wasting you just cuz I'm curious."

It made sense, but still, such an act, against his own race. Before she could think any further, Finn pulled her into a hug, instantly causing him to start burning up.

"Finn! You can't!"

The human pulled away, frowning slightly.

"Sorry, it's just…I was worried."

Flame Princess stared into his blue eyes. They were sincere, which made her feel better. A smile finally emerged on her features as she offered to help the boy up. He gladly accepted and soon the two were upright, slightly adjusting their aching parts. FP had one knot that she just couldn't reach.

"Um, Finn. Could you pop my back? It's about halfway down."

She turned to face away from the hero.

"Sure."

Instead of helping her out however, the fire elemental suddenly felt the human's arms wrap around her neck, rather violently.

"Finn, what the heck?!"

He didn't answer. She tried to look behind her, but the hold he had her in was too strong. Her attention was suddenly drawn by a laugh, which echoed throughout the room. A few moments later, Gummy emerged from one of the corridors. He had a wicked smile upon his face.

"Heh, heh, you're starting to get it, right?"

The goblin stopped in front of the fallen form of Fourth Arc.

"I was never the king. He has already been removed. It was his loyal chief of staff, the one who 'interprets' his majesty's every command, that I snatched up. These fools, listening to such a crazy task as stacking metal in the center of the city."

Gummy's form flickered, before dissolving into static, replaced by the fur-coated Fourth Arc. Flame Princess's eyes widened as she realized the truth. The supposedly dead human had vanished, along with the sword, meaning…

"You're not Finn!"

The one holding her back snickered, tightening his grip on the fiery girl. Without warning however her anger spiked, causing her flames to increase and the illusion restraining her to panic.

"Oh man!"

He let go, trying desperately to put out his clothes. He never had the chance. Flame Princess produced her flame sword, slashing the imposter in half and instantly turning him to dust in the wind. FP swung around to face Fourth Arc, who was once again holding his head.

"Darn, not now."

He groaned, stumbling back a bit. Flame Princess didn't care, she charged, intent on dicing the human out of sheer rage. At, first, she kicked the man several feet back, landing him painfully on the floor. He managed to string up more illusions to surround him, but this only angered the fire elemental more.

"Finn _can't _be human! Humans are vile, deceitful, and heartless!"

Fourth Arc was only half paying attention, still holding his head. He looked close to passing out. His squad of imposters formed up around him, prepared to slow the fire elemental. She just growled.

"I'm going to hunt down and strike you all down on sight!"

Suddenly, the doors to the throne room burst open, garnering the attention of everyone inside. FP's blazing eyes briefly softened, but quickly regained their heat. There stood Finn, breathing heavily as if he were just running, with the head injury still wrapped up. His sword was tucked behind him. When the boy spotted the fiery girl, his expression was one of shock and concern.

"Flame Princess! Are you-"

The fire elemental had fire dashed over to him, immediately slashing him across the chest with her scorching blade. Her eyes were full of fury, murderous intent even. As Finn fell, he did not exhibit pain, only astonishment. His mouth hung open, his eyes unblinking. FP just glared at him. Once the human fell to the floor with a thud, Flame Princess gazed down upon the form, waiting for it to dissipate like the other.

It didn't.

She waited. And waited. Longer still. Nothing happened. The wound had gone deep, having singed a good portion of the skin and tearing open the shirt while its edges remained charred and shredded. The more Flame Princess stood there, the quicker her anger vanished. Finally, she had lost all drive altogether, staring down with a blank look upon the fallen human.

"That's not…one of…"

Fourth Arc was stuttering heavily, eyes as wide as FP's as she gazed upon what she thought was another sick attempt to trick her. Flame Princess's wish at that moment was mercifully granted, as fresh streams of lava rolled down her face. Her lips trembled, her eyes shuddered, her hands struggled to move.

"F-Finn…"

She fell to her knees, dragged to the floor by the weight of her action. Fourth Arc dissipated all of his illusions, then slowly got up and made his way to the two teens. His pace was fast, his expression; horrified. FP was so struck that she didn't register as the man knelt down and quickly pulled a small box from his belt. He frantically opened it up, pulling out a large strip that resembled a bandage.

Sure enough, he quickly placed it over Finn's wound, then ran his fingers in an intricate pattern along its surface. Strange lights were drawn at his touch, forming a complicated sequence that instantly activated the apparently high-tech adhesive.

A slight hissing was heard from beneath the bandage. A moment later, Finn let out a grasping breath, as if he were just shocked back to life. He coughed intently for a few seconds, wherein which Fourth Arc carefully stood up, still gazing with concern at the hero. He then looked to Flame Princess, who had completely ignored the treatment to the boy's chest and was still sobbing painfully.

The man turned away, hanging his head.

"I…I'm so sorry."

With that, he dashed away, down one of the dark corridors and out of sight. FP didn't notice his words, as far as anyone could tell. She finally reached forward, attempting to perhaps grasp Finn's form to comfort him. However, every time she tried, her hands retracted, as if her body refused to make contact with the human.

In the meantime, Finn had regained some of his consciousness, taking a brief look at the bandage Fourth Arc had left him before shifting his eyes to the fire elemental.

"Flame…Princess…"

The young ruler was still letting out tears in near bottle-fulls. Finn reached out a hand, trying to grasp hers. She pulled away.

"No…" she whispered.

The hero eyed her with confusion and concern.

"FP, you can't…you didn't know…you couldn't have."

He tried to reach once more, but this time the princess jumped up and took several steps back, shaking her head.

"No! Look at what I did! Look at what my anger did!"

Her shouting was painful to Finn's ears. Not because of the sound itself, but because of the pain he could sense in it.

"Flame Princess, no…stop."

The fiery girl backed away more as the human struggled to get up.

"You're not…what you're thinking. You're calm and controlled."

The more steps he took toward her, the further back FP went.

"It was always true. I'm a monster!"

Finn outright dashed forward, catching Flame Princess so off guard that she didn't have the reaction speed to avoid it. As the burning commenced, Finn whispered carefully into her ear.

"Don't you _ever _say that, or I swear, I'll cling to you until even my bones turn black. If I have to die to prove it to you, I won't hesitate to do so."

FP was about to protest, but was cut off as the human placed a finger over her mouth, which of course started turning red from the heat.

"You know what hurts a million times more than the feel of your fire? Not feeling it at all."

He hugged the girl tighter.

"Call me stupid, call me an idiot, I don't care which one you or anyone else chooses. I only care about what I know for a fact. And that is, you are a beautiful girl who can control a beautifully misunderstood force of nature."

His hold loosened, his arms fell, his body slumped down, caught before it reached the floor by the hands of Flame Princess. His eyes closed, and he was out, unconscious from the level of burning going around his body. His last act was to pull a large bottle from his pack, which he shakily held up as if beckoning FP to take it.

She took hold of it, instantly knowing it was cyclops tears. Flame Princess used her shaking hands to the best of her ability to uncork the bottle, but found it useless. She smashed the glass against Finn's chest instead, luckily not cutting him with any of the shards. As the magical tears soaked in, the human's condition gradually improved, although not entirely.

Silence had been prominent for the past minute, but was eventually broken as FP's tears began to slow and she opened her mouth to speak.

"You…human."

Why she said it, she did not know. But it was her last act before falling to the floor, utterly drained of all energy.

* * *

Drips from the surrounding sewers were all that was heard in the empty bowels of the royal dungeon. A single figure was quietly thinking, analyzing the situation and seeing if all was according to plan. However, before she could ponder much longer, she detected the wispy sound of fast traveling feet. Turning around, the woman saw a blur heading towards her.

"V? What are you doing here?"

The speeding object slowed, revealed to be the very girl mentioned. Instead of answering though, she simply looked up at Duo with concerned eyes. The form of a man lay across her hunched back, causing the woman to nearly gasp.

"Lay him on the table," she stated urgently.

V did as asked and placed Quad down on the elevated stone structure. Duo quickly pulled out a stethoscope and listened to the man's heart. Soon, she lowered the device and reached into one of her mysterious pockets, pulling out an orange bottle and kneeling to get closer to him.

"Quad? Quad? Wake up."

Duo shook him, receiving only a slight moan. She did it again, this time with more vigor.

"Quad! Wake up!"

The man finally stirred, first gasping, then darting his eyes all over the surroundings. He stopped when he met the woman's gaze."

"Duo. It…it happened again."

The woman scowled.

"Of course it did! You did not take them!"

She waved the bottle in front of his face, making it rattle. The bedridden man frowned, ashamed.

"I messed up. I'm sorry."

The female sighed with disappointment, shaking her head.

"You cannot afford to keep doing this. You need the medicine. Or would you prefer losing control more often?"

Quad instantly perked up, shaking his own head violently.

"No! Never! Today…I…I…I did, something."

Duo frowned as well.

"What happened?"

The man partially scrunched up his face, looking towards the ceiling while recalling the previous events.

"The fire girl; I hurt her, so badly."

Duo and V leaned in a bit.

"How?" the older female asked.

Quad felt a tear run down the side of his head.

"I broke her down, from the inside. And because of me, she almost killed that human boy."

The ladies gasped, shocked by the news.

"Quad…you…"

The man looked despairingly at Duo.

"I promise. I promise I'll remember to take them. I don't want to hurt anyone. That's not our goal."

Duo shook her head.

"That is right. It is not."

She handed the bottle to the man, who carefully accepted it and unscrewed the lid. After popping several orange pills into his mouth, he held the container tightly to his chest. Duo turned to V.

"Come. We must let him rest."

The two ladies left the man alone, allowing him to fall asleep soundly, still sniffling occasionally. Now out of range of being heard, V asked her burning question.

"What's wrong with him? I just thought he was insane."

Duo shook her head.

"No. It is much more awful than that. Quad suffers from a dual-personality disorder."

V's eyes widened.

"One day, he is an eccentric showman who enjoys harmlessly messing with people. The next, he's a psychotic manipulator who finds amusement in his foe's confusion and mental collapse."

Duo stared sadly over at the snoozing Quad.

"Even with all my research, I still have not found a cure."

She sighed.

"It seems our race was never able to make it past treatment, so many diseases went unstopped, only able to be delayed or weakened."

The woman turned to V.

"Go. Make sure those two are alive and well."

The younger girl nodded, quickly speeding out of the cavern and up the spiraling stone staircase. Duo returned to her friend's side, waiting for him to awaken.

* * *

V sped along the streets of the Candy Kingdom, moving fast enough so that no one noticed her blurred image. Not that candy people were too bright in the first place. Upon reaching the castle, she bounded through the corridors, careful to avoid crashing into any servants. Eventually, the girl made it to the hospital rooms, leaning against the door to hear if anyone was inside.

Absolute silence. V sighed with relief, slowly opening the door to peek inside. Immediately, she panicked and ducked back out. There was in fact someone inside, just standing there. A few seconds after moving back out, V swore she recognized them. She edged her way back in, being extra careful so as to not disturb the individual within.

Once the one in question was in full view, the girl controlled her gasp.

"Tres?"

The being slightly turned her head, not quite revealing her face.

"Duo sent you to check on them?"

The young girl dashed over to the other's side in a second.

"Yeah. Why are _you _here?"

The older girl, somewhere in her twenties by the looks of it, just kept looking at the bandaged and sleeping Finn and Flame Princess.

"I suppose I came to do the same."

V looked over the two beaten and exhausted teenagers.

"How did they get here anyway?"

Tres still wasn't taking her solemn eyes off of the pair.

"The vampire known as Marceline found them on the floor of the goblin throne room. She flew them both here as fast as possible. Luckily, Princess Bubblegum was able to treat their injuries with relative ease. However…"

V watched as her companion raised her hand, holding it over the two teens. Progressively, a strange aura enveloped the bedridden pair. As the seconds passed by, their wounds began to fade away, leaving perfectly good skin behind. The dried tear trails on FP's cheeks vanished as well. Soon, both of the Ooocians appeared in pristine health, not even a scratch or bruise on either of them.

As Tres lowered her arm, her companion shook her head.

"Your power doesn't make any sense."

V eyed her friend skeptically.

"Last time, it let you telekinetically knock over a tree, just so that a family of wolves could cross a river. On another occasion, it let you push aside a twenty ton boulder and save a trapped bear cub. And then, that time Hex stepped on an ant hill, it let you reverse time itself to repair it."

The eldest girl stepped forward, reaching into Finn's backpack and pulling out his tinfoil. She carefully tore off and wrapped the silver material around the hero's hand. Next, she gently placed both his and Flame Princess's hands on the nightstand separating their beds. Tres placed the fire elemental's in Finn's, then closed his fingers around the girl's. After stepping back, she took one last look at the two.

"Love and compassion don't _have_ to make sense."

With that, Tres turned and walked toward the doors to the hall, reactivating her hologram disguise in the process. V just stared after her ally, pondering her words. Eventually, Fifth Arc sped out of the room, leaving the two young hearts to enjoy their rest, while their hands unconsciously increased their grip on each other.

* * *

A/N: Wow, such a nice amount of reviews. They definitely help. So yeah, every Tuesday and Friday will have an update. That seems pretty stable in my schedule.

OMAC001: Thanks. I was hoping they'd be interesting.

I am The7: I know, right? I'd hate to go through something like that.


	8. Hellos and Goodbyes

-Hellos and Goodbyes-

The morning candy birds tweeted their songs, informing the inhabitants of the sugary kingdom that the day was beginning. The sun's rays reflected majestically off of the glossy surfaces of several structures, including Princess Bubblegum's impressive castle. Speaking of which, the monarch, along with Jake, who stayed over to be close to his injured bro, was making her way to the hospital rooms to check up on her patients.

Meanwhile, within the doors of the infirmary, Finn and Flame Princess managed to both begin awakening simultaneously, in part due to the golden sunlight streaming into their eyes at just the right angle. The two teens slowly uncovered their vision and gazed at the ceiling above. After a moment, they noticed the foreign sensation in their hands.

Letting their heads fall to face each other, the pair was stunned to realize they were basically right next to one another. Even more shocking, was the bond between their hands, lying on the table beside them. At first however, they simply stared at the clasped appendages, every so often sneaking a look into the other's eyes.

Eventually, both slowly slid their hands out of the grip, returning them to their owners' side. Next, Finn and FP carefully sat up, then swung over their legs to place them firmly on the ground, now facing each other with silence. Soon enough, they grew a slight red coloring on their cheeks.

The quiet was interrupted when Jake threw open the doors, eager to see his brother's condition. Naturally, both teens jumped at the sound.

"Finn! You're ok! And you too, FP! We were so wor-"

He frowned, seeing the obvious minor blushes the two had and the look of surprise on their faces. The dog scratched his head as PB walked up next to him.

"Uh, were you guys making out or something?"

Sadly, that only worsened the crimson coloring of the pair's skin.

"No! How could we? Did you forget, dude?"

Jake thought for a moment then shrugged.

"Oh well."

Peebles rolled her eyes, walking past the slightly embarrassed dog and making her way to the two bedridden teens. Her expression was now set in confusion and disbelief.

"What the huh? Your wounds, they're gone!"

Finn and FP examined their bodies, seeing that the candy woman was correct. They looked 'fresh out of the box'.

"Whoa, cool," Finn whispered.

PB shook her head.

"No, Finn. Not 'cool'. This is serious. You both had crazy injuries, and now, the very next morning, there's not a scratch on either of you."

The human frowned, placing a hand over his chest.

"Hm. Maybe a magical fairy came over the night and fixed us up."

Bubblegum face-palmed.

"So immature," she mumbled to herself.

Jake came over to the young hero's bedside and smiled.

"Yo dude, we were gonna go out and recruit some more peeps for the fight. Wanna join?"

The dog was sure such an activity would cheer up his homie, but was bewildered when the human shook his head.

"No thanks."

The other three in the room were stunned.

"Wha? Are you serious?"

Finn nodded.

"Yeah."

He gazed at Jake and PB.

"Listen, can you guys step out for a minute? I wanna talk to Flame Princess."

Peebles and the boy's bro looked at each other for a moment, concern plastered on their faces. Jake shrugged, then the gazed back at Finn.

"Ok, dude."

The two slowly turned and walked back out the door, closing it gently behind them. Once silence had returned, Finn swung to face the princess, who was staring back at him with the same concerned expression as the others.

"FP, I'm going."

The fire elemental furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean?"

The human promptly stood up, picking up his nearby backpack in the process and slinging it on. Flame Princess stood up too, confused by his sudden activity.

"Where are you going?"

Finn gazed solemnly into the girl's amber eyes.

"I'm going to find the humans...on my own."

FP's eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open.

"What! You can't be serious! You'll get killed!"

The hero shook his head.

"No. They don't want to kill us. At least I don't think they do."

He groaned, frustrated at not knowing for sure.

"Only as a last resort. Look, FP, I want you and the others to stop looking for them."

The fire elemental suddenly shifted to an upset face.

"Is this about you being 'the last human' and all? Cuz that's a load of bunk now, you've got no right to keep us out of the investigation, not when it threatens all our kingdom's too."

Finn hung his head.

"Yeah…you're right. But,"

He looked up again, his face set in deep concern, relaxing away FP's scowl.

"If any of you run into Fourth Arc again I don't want him to use me as a way to hurt you guys. So, if I go, on my own, you'll know there's no way it's me."

Flame Princess took a step closer to the boy.

"Wh-what do you mean _on your own_?"

Finn spotted the window of the hospital out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't look for me."

Briefly, he took gentle hold of FP's hand, using the tinfoil that was still wrapped around his. After squeezing softly for a moment, he let go and tore the silvery paper off, quickly displaying some origami skills and shaping it into a small flower, which he promptly presented to the young ruler before him.

Flame Princess carefully took the item, appearing to be in the image of a rose. During the moment when she was distracted by the gift, Finn quickly jumped over her and the bed, landing on the far side of the room by the window.

"Finn, wait!"

It was too late; the human dived out the window, catching on to a TV cable and zip-lining down it with his sword. FP raced over to the opening and searched the candy streets below for any sign of the young hero. There were none. He was gone. The fire elemental stood there for a minute, staring out into the open with the silver flower cradled protectively in her hands.

Within moments however, the door to the room slowly cracked open, with Jake peeking his eyes and nose around the edge. He looked over the area for a second, then proceeded to open the door fully, allowing himself and Princess Bubblegum to reenter. They saw that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Finn?"

Flame Princess carefully placed the flower in the pocket of her dress, then turned to look sadly at Jake and PB.

"He…he left."

Peebles frowned.

"Left? Just like that?"

FP nodded.

"He wants to be on his own, so that if we run into Fourth Arc again, we won't be tricked by illusions of him."

The others stared at the floor.

"I see," Bubblegum replied.

The candy monarch then stepped over to Flame Princess, took out a strange instrument, and momentarily zapped the girl with it, upon which a green beam scanned her form. After shutting it off, PB glanced at the results on a screen, humming with intrigue.

"There's simply no explanation. No medicine, healing 'spell', cyclops tears, you name it. I can't figure out what removed yours and Finn's injuries."

The pink lady put down her device and sighed.

"Well, I suppose we have to respect his decision. He's only looking out for us all."

Jake and FP nodded solemnly.

"Yeah. I just hope I see my bro again soon."

Bubblegum then looked to Jake.

"Alright, who's this 'surprise guest' you were talking about earlier?"

The dog grinned.

"Ladies, if you would follow me."

He gestured for them all to exit. The three made their way slowly down the halls of the castle, heading down towards the ground floor. Once reaching their destination, which was one of the building's lobbies, Jake momentarily searched around before smiling and pointing to someone patiently waiting in one of the chairs, which was much too small for her.

PB was stunned, but Flame Princess was rather confused.

"Um, who is that?" she asked.

Jake suddenly remembered the fire elemental had never met nor heard of this particular individual.

"Come on, let's walk over and I'll introduce you."

The trio made their way across the room, coming up to the towering woman, who was ravenously biting into a chunk of the candy wall she'd torn off.

"FP, this is Susan Strong."

The fiery girl studied the woman, who seemed just as mesmerized by her appearance.

"Jake, who is glowing lady?" Susan asked.

The dog chuckled.

"This is Flame Princess. She's made of fire."

Curiously, Susan reached out her hand to poke FP in the arm. She yelped and recoiled at the instant burning.

"Ouch! She hot."

Jake laughed as FP blushed slightly from embarrassment.

"Man, that joke never gets old."

At this point, PB butted in.

"Jake, are you sure it's a good idea to have Susan around here? Remember what happened last time she was around candy."

The magical canine brushed her off.

"Chill, Prubs. Susie's past that now. Besides, we need her. If that jerk Sixth Arc comes around she can beat the pants off of him, no prob."

The candy princess crossed her arms.

"You said Sixth Arc was _stronger_ than Susan."

With that, the dog rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, I mean, I don't know for sure. There's totally a chance that he's not."

Susan raised her fists and smiled with determination.

"Susan **really** strong. Can beat up bad guy no problem."

Jake grinned to PB.

"See? A fighting spirit is half the battle. Isn't that something you'd say?"

Bubblegum sighed.

"Alright, fine. She can help."

Jake cheered and gave Susan a high-five. Peebles rolled her eyes and pulled a map from her dress.

"Ok, Listen up. Since you two are so eager to beat up some super humans, you can check out the area beneath the candy castle."

Jake accepted the map and looked it over.

"Under here? Why?"

PB folded her arms again, thinking back.

"I detected unusual vibrations down there, and I have a hunch that their waste gathering efforts haven't ceased just yet. If you find Sixth Arc, you need to stop him."

Jake saluted, prompting Susan to do the same.

"Aye aye, Prubs. Let's go, Susie."

The humanoid pounded her fist into her palm as she followed the magical dog towards the underground floors of the castle.

"Susan punch bad guy big time."

Once the two had left, Peebles turned to Flame Princess.

"What will you do?"

FP gazed sadly at the ground.

"I guess, I'll head back to the Fire Kingdom, see if they've made any progress on finding the spy."

PB nodded.

"Sounds promising. Good luck."

The fiery girl nodded back and shifted into her fire form, instantly bolting out a window. Princess Bubblegum watched her go, hoping the young ruler could find something of value to the investigation. In the meantime, the candy monarch made her way back up to her lab, intent on finding more information about the mysterious group of humans and their unsettling gathering of materials.

_What could they be planning?_

As Bonnie reached the correct floor, she frowned. There wasn't anyone up here this early in the day, and yet, a light could be seen from underneath one of the doors to a smaller lab area. Concerned, PB walked over and quietly put an ear to the door. She could heard very minor tapping, along with an occasional step, and sipping, as if someone were drinking coffee.

Utterly confused, and aggravated that someone would be up here without her permission, Peebles kicked open the door, smacking it loudly against the wall inside. Remarkably, the person inside did not jump at the bang. Bubblegum's eyes went wide as the being slowly turned to her, swiveling in a chair and having previously been typing away at a nearby computer. There was in fact a cup of steaming coffee beside the keyboard.

"Who the junk are you?!"

However, instead of answering, the person calmly stood up and straightened her lab coat.

"I believe that you already know the answer to that, Princess Bubblegum."

Peebles studied the woman carefully, suddenly growing wide-eyed.

"Human…"

The other lady nodded. Her professional scientific attire was only halfway buttoned up, revealing a simple dark shirt underneath. It had a circle embedded into it, along with the symbol 'II'. Her skin was a deep brown, nicely complimenting her caramel eyes. Her chin length black hair curved inwards at their tips, creating an elegant frame for her face. Even PB had to admit, for a science-type she had quite the looks.

The candy princess tensed, knowing that they had not encountered this human before, meaning there was no telling what power she held. One thing PB could understand though was that this woman was clearly more intelligent than her allies. He cool demeanor and careful movements displayed incredible collectiveness and confidence.

"I assume you're the one who stole my chart?"

The woman nodded.

"And if I may ask, who are you?"

The lady delicately reached back and picked up her coffee, taking a quiet sip before placing it back down.

"I am Second Arc."

Peebles thought so. The princess cautiously closed the door behind her, not daring to take her eyes off of the human. Second Arc watched her with little interest.

"I am no threat to you; as long as that statement is mutual."

PB narrowed her eyes.

"Why should it? After what you're cohorts did to my friends?"

The dark-haired woman closed her eyes.

"I understand that Sixth and Fourth Arc have been entirely too reckless, for that I apologize."

Bubblegum took a few steps forward.

"Apologies won't fix the damage, especially since you're planning something that gives off a bad feeling."

Second Arc sighed.

"I see. I was hoping that you could be reasoned with. In honest truth, we did not wish for this to come to pass. But, your land is now the site of our greatest mission, and I cannot allow you to hinder our activities."

PB raised a defensive position.

"I know you're intelligent, but I doubt you're an adept fighter."

Second Arc gazed with a blank look at the princess.

"I am afraid you do not know exactly _how _intelligent I am."

PB scoffed.

"I think I do. You were working in here without your disguise, so that if you were discovered your cover would be intact. The moment I'd lose sight of you, you'd switch to a different appearance and I'd be back at square one."

The other woman nodded.

"Very good, princess."

She took a step towards the monarch.

"However, you are still incorrect in your assessment of my abilities."

Second Arc placed her hands behind her back and took one last step forward. She and PB were almost within arm's reach of one another. Suddenly, the circle in her shirt began to glow with an orange aura. Next, a ghostly circle expanded from where see stood, encompassing the entire room. When the border of the expansion hit PB, it instantly lit her up with the same orange color.

The human looked carefully at her opposition.

"I hope that you yourself have adequate offensive skill."

Peebles darted her eyes across the room, watching as the growing circle momentarily illuminated everything it touched, before finally fading away.

"What did you just do?" she demanded of Second Arc.

The dark-haired woman didn't change her expression.

"I have removed the chance for interference. Now, I believe I must be getting past you, otherwise risk the loss of all my work."

* * *

Finn exhaustedly paced through Red Rock Pass, having not taken a break since leaving the Candy Kingdom. By sheer luck, he was hoping to run into one of the Arcs while aimlessly wandering Ooo. A dumb plan, but then again, his plans usually worked out in the end, to an extent.

The young hero drank up the last of his water, placing the now empty flask in his pack and wiping the sweat off of his brow. He suddenly felt pretty stupid, journeying out on his own, but, then remembered his motives. None of the people he cared for can be hurt by him. Keeping this in mind, the boy pushed on, determined to track down his quarry.

Walking up to the edge of the pass, Finn stared out over the horizon, attempting to spot anything in the distance. The hollow wind was the only activity he could pick up on. Sighing in defeat, he began moving along the cliffs, hoping something would come along. For another half hour or so, the area was lifeless, with not even the occasional mountain dwelling critter to cheer up the loneliness Finn was feeling.

Suddenly, he stopped, swearing that he had heard a wisp in the air. Staying absolutely quiet, the human listened to the wind, confirming the existence of a low whooshing sound, as if something was traveling very fast along the ground. Finn swung around to study the gorge splitting the pass. Sure enough, he could see a rapidly approaching dust cloud in the distance.

_Gotcha._

Looking around, he eyed a fairly flat slab of rock, immediately kicking it as hard as he could. Pleasantly enough, it plopped down and began sliding down the side of the gorge. Finn quickly jumped on top of it, carefully balancing himself out as the rock slid noisily down to the floor of the pass.

Even more fortuitous, he was outpacing the approaching dust cloud, which rocketed towards him at incredible speed.

_It's her; it's got to be her._

Finally, the rock slipped off the side and landed bluntly on the floor of the gorge. Finn had timed his jump perfectly, landing cleanly in front of the rock, facing the oncoming dust. Instantly, the blurring force was upon him, about to run him clean over and continue its traverse across the land. Instead however, it stopped, in the blink of an eye, allowing the dust to catch up and momentarily blind the area to any who may have been nearby. Finn shielded his eyes, waiting for the debris to settle so that he could face his adversary.

As predicted, once the grainy fog had cleared, it revealed the form of Fifth Arc, standing quite still and glaring at Finn. The girl narrowed her eyes further and tightened her fists.

"What do you want?"

The young hero let out a breath, choosing to approach this calmly.

"I want to know why you've been attacking my friends."

Fifth Arc scoffed.

"It's not my fault if some of the guys get too 'aggro'."

She then looked to the side, slightly softening her scowl.

"Besides, Fourth Arc isn't completely to blame."

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"How do you figure?"

The girl looked back at him.

"He has a condition, it makes him go a bit nuts. As for Sixth, he's always being a giant lug, unable to think too far ahead."

She hesitated.

"I'm…sorry, for what they did. We're not trying to hurt anyone."

Finn grew an even more serious face.

"What are you planning?"

Fifth Arc scowled again.

"That's none of your business. I don't even know why I'm talking to you."

She was about to step around Finn, when the young hero pulled out his sword and aimed it at her.

"I can't let you go. I need answers. You're threatening my home and I won't-"

The boy gasped. He didn't even see it happen. His own weapon's tip was now almost pressed against his neck, and he wasn't the one holding it. Fifth Arc eyed him carefully as she pushed him back.

"Look, I don't want to have to get rid of you. There are way too few humans as it is."

Finn suddenly batted the sword out of her hands, allowing it to loudly clang to the ground and slide a good deal away. The hero stood back, then formed fists with his hands.

"How about this, we end this, here and now. If I win, you tell me everything."

Fifth Arc furrowed her brow.

"And what could you possibly have that I would want in the all too likely event that you lose?"

Finn thought hard about that.

"I'll leave you alone."

The girl pondered the proposition for a moment, then looked back to Finn.

"Fine. It won't take long anyway."

A second later, the circle on Fifth Arc's shirt glowed in a yellow hue. An identically toned ring expanded from the ground where she stood, enveloping all the surroundings rocks, boulders, and walls of the pass. Finn was also hit, covering him in the same yellow light. As he darted his eyes around to observe the phenomenon, he spotted a couple of hawks flying overhead, looking for a meal.

In an instant, they froze, utterly stopped in midair, yet unaffected by gravity. The wind had halted as well. The entire area was dead silent, with no sign of movement. Finn looked back to Fifth Arc as the colors faded out, leaving only their bizarre effects behind.

"What is this?"

The girl took an offensive stance and raised her own fists.

"One of Second Arc's most ingenious creations. An environment that swaps our current location with a random section of space-time. In this space, no one can interfere with a fight."

Finn tensed up, realizing this may be more difficult than he thought. Fifth Arc noticed this and let out a small smirk.

"This is, the Augmented Battlefield HAVEN."

* * *

A/N: Nice to see people enjoying this.

Adventureinoooh: Good to hear, thanks.

I am The7: My reaction? It was awful. Plain and simple.

Just a normal reader: Glad you think so.

OMAC001: That what I was going for, mysterious.


	9. HAVEN

-HAVEN-

Finn groaned painfully as he pulled himself out of the rock wall his opponent had smashed him into. The young hero shook his head and looked around, spotting Fifth Arc standing a few feet in front of him, arms crossed. He valiantly stood straight, cracking his neck and raising his fists.

"That all you got?" he smirked.

His foe was stunned.

"Seriously? After _that_?"

The strange human dashed forward, immediately sending a lightning-fast flurry of punches into Finn's gut. He groaned, but held it in through bared teeth. Once Fifth Arc had grown tired of the constant hits, which were having little effect from her point-of-view, she backed off, panting ever so slightly.

"Why…won't…you…quit?"

Finn coughed, then took a struggling step forward.

"Because, I'm just like that. I can take your shots. I can take anything!"

Frustrated, Fifth Arc dashed forward again, grabbing the boy and shoving him into the open. She then proceeded to spin all around him, every few seconds delivering a painful slug or kick to his most vulnerable points. Although the strikes to his boing-loins hurt quite extensively, Finn kept standing.

Eventually, Fifth Arc became agitated enough to simply jump onto Finn and relentlessly beat in his face on the ground.

"Just. Give. Up!"

The boy continued to hold his resolute expression, refusing the girl's order. She growled and stood up, kicking Finn in the side repeatedly. He seemed to stop moving. By now, the Arc was breathing heavily.

"Yeah, just like that."

Suddenly, the thought-to-be pacified Finn grabbed her leg, startling her as he quickly tripped her up, getting to his feet in a flash and elbowing Fifth Arc downward right in the gut. She shouted in pain as her spine met the dirt. After a quick groan, the girl found herself restrained to the ground by Finn's hand on her shoulder. The hero's other hand was balled into a fist, prepared to discourage any attempts to escape the hold.

She just glared at the boy.

"You've got to be kidding me. An Arc, losing to a plain old human."

Finn was feeling victorious, but not overconfident.

"Maybe, but it's not like you're the strongest of your gang. I mean, you are the _fifth_ one."

Fifth Arc scowled at him.

"We're not ranked based on our power, you moron. We're ranked by how hard we are to stop."

Finn was momentarily surprised, then smirked.

"Oh yeah? Then I guess your muscly pal is gonna get his pants beat by my friends."

Fifth Arc practically disappeared from beneath Finn's hold, stunning him. Next, he received a firm kick in the face, sending him skidding across the red dirt of the valley. Upon trying to stand up, he was met with a foot slamming his chest back down.

"Don't. Just don't," Fifth Arc warned.

Finn stared woozily up at his foe. By now, even he was getting too hazed to fight back. There was simply a limit to his physical body, even if his mind and heart still held strong. The young hero noticed the circle on Fifth Arc's shirt, nearly concealed by her jacket. He weakly reached up and attempted to touch the symbol in its center. The girl easily slapped him away, scowling again.

"I said don't! How dumb are you?"

Finn took in one last, powerful breath, then opened his mouth.

"I'm full-on stupid!"

Startled by the outburst, Fifth Arc was caught off guard as Finn lunged at her with his upper body and did his best to bring her to the ground. Somehow though, she managed to get his feet in the air and instantly was off at high speed. Finn was astounded by how fast the girl was moving, nearly losing his grip around her neck as she tried to fling him off. It took all his energy to stay attached.

Growling with irritation, Fifth Arc spotted a rocky slope nearby that led even further into Red Rock Pass. She changed directions, almost throwing Finn to the side. He held along, but grew nervous as the cliff came up fast. Instantly, the girl stopped on a dime, catapulting her passenger over her head.

Thinking rapidly, as if by a divine instinct, Finn looked over his options. Sadly, there were few. He either gets terribly injured, more terribly injured, or dies. Deeply conflicted about the bleak range of results, Finn swallowed his pride and did the only thing he could come up with to save his butt, regardless of how unchivalrous it was.

He grabbed Fifth Arc's hair.

The girl screamed in pain, immediately being dragged along with the young hero down the slope of the rocky valley. The two humans rolled along the hard rock like ragdolls, unable to secure any footing whatsoever. Both shouted out whenever a rock or bump would smack them in their body or face. Somehow though, Fifth Arc managed to regain limited coordination and eyed Finn when her sight came around the roll. Finding the right moment, she pounced on top of her opponent, causing him to involuntarily become her sled down the slope.

Finn became much more concerned about his poor shredding backpack than anything else, as the bottom of the range came closer. In the meantime, Fifth Arc had resumed punching the bejesus out of him. With consciousness slipping fast, the young hero made his final move, tightly embracing the girl with all four limbs, immobilizing them both. Losing control of her 'manmade' sled, Fifth Arc cried out as she once more began tumbling down the solid incline.

A moment later, both teens smashed into a boulder at the base of the valley.

Fifth Arc got lucky, only striking her back, although still receiving a great amount of pain in the process. Finn however, struck his head directly on the blunt rock. The two foes were heavily disoriented, the hero especially. Even so, with his vision fading quickly, he tried one last time to touch Fifth Arc's symbol while she was groaning and rubbing her back. This time, he succeeded.

In a split second, a hyper fast vision flooded Finn's mind, nearly driving him mad by how quickly the images were firing through his brain. The only thing he made out was something familiar; the sight of a burning earth. Before much more could be distinguished, he was out. The girl beside him noticed the slump, gazing over to the boy and letting out a breath.

"Ugh, finally."

In response to the finished confrontation, time restarted where it left off, signaling that HAVEN had deactivated. Fifth Arc's circle flashed momentarily, confirming the act. She sighed, then struggled to get to her feet. Immediately, she found that her ankle was twisted, meaning something quite dreadful. She couldn't run.

Cursing under her breath, she gave the unconscious Finn one last kick in the side, angry with how much damage he'd managed to inflict on her. Suddenly though, she gazed at the pained look on his face. Even with his eyes closed, the hero still appeared to be showing a determined expression. Somehow, Fifth Arc found a glimmer of respect in her mind.

"Jeez. Even knocked out you're still resisting."

She actually smirked.

"Although, I guess I'll count this one as a draw."

The human sat down beside the form of her enemy, sighing once more at the inconvenient situation. As much as she wanted to just limp away slowly, something just couldn't bring her to leave the fallen Finn out in the barren environment. She decided that she'd wait for him to wake up, seeing as then he could potentially help give her leverage to walk back to the hideout.

Not that he'd be allowed to leave afterwards.

* * *

The atmosphere in the room was tense. Neither scientist dared to move from where they stood, each waiting for the other to make the first move. PB was admittedly in a more stressed position, and she was sure that Second Arc could tell just by looking at the candy princess. The analytical woman was calmly staring the candy monarch in the eyes, which were clear of any sort of worry or insecurities.

Peebles may have not been as intelligent as her adversary, but she was smart enough to know one thing: she stood no chance against this lady.

"Do you still wish to go through with this?" the human asked coolly.

PB narrowed her eyes, trying to think what to do. All she _had _to do was stop Second Arc from walking out the door behind her, but this was easier said than done. The princess was starting to cramp up in her legs. In all truth, the two ladies had been standing there for nearly half an hour, just waiting for the other to take the first move. Tired of the suspense, Bubblegum decided, for better or worse, she had to be the one to act.

Something simple first. She grabbed a nearby flask and flung it at the human. Second Arc caught it, then tossed it to the side, where it shattered. Disappointed, Peebles let out a breath, realizing that was pointless.

_Oh for Glob's sake, what the heck._

She ran at the human, expecting for her to dodge and counter. The dark-haired woman did so and sidestepped the princess, before quickly jabbing her straightened hand into a spot on the monarch's back. Instantly, PB felt her arm go limp. The two had now switched sides in the room, which Bubblegum realized was a mistake.

Second Arc tried to simply walk out, but the candy lady ran at her again, trying to stay more vigilant for another pressure point attack. Instead, a shocking jolt was sent through her spine, causing the princess to freeze in place and stare with shock at the woman before her. Second Arc casually turned around, holding up her hand and displaying a set of tiny micro transmitters on her fingertips.

"Within your strike, hide a poison. I suggest you better yourself on the art of combat, princess."

With that, the human touched two of her fingers together, activating the chip latched onto PB's back and forcing her nerves to make her back off. The monarch felt like a puppet.

"Ngh. What are you and your allies up to? Or at least, why can't you tell us? If the cause was by any chance noble, we could even help you."

Second Arc stared at the subjugated Bubblegum for a moment, before tapping her fingertips together again. Instead of another shock, PB felt the chip self-destruct in an explosion so tiny it caused her no harm. Although she was free, she couldn't command her nerves to move forward at all. Her human counterpart actually smiled a little.

"I must say, that is a generous offer. However, our goal involves elements that your people would not accept. I'm afraid cooperation is impossible."

She stepped back towards the door.

"Your spinal cord had been temporarily stiffened. You should be able to walk in about an hour."

Suddenly, the circle on the woman's shirt flashed orange again. In that moment, PB felt that whatever conditions had been set previously by the human had now been removed.

"What is that thing?"

The dark-haired lady touched the circle on her attire.

"HAVEN. I designed it by request, as a close friend of mine did not wish to cause unnecessary violence should we be forced to confront any of you."

Second Arc held her hands behind her back.

"Officially, the Hedron Aligned Virtual Engagement Nexus."

She held her hand out now, gesturing to the surroundings.

"Within its influence, time and space are removed from the equation. None but those battling are unaffected by the system. A true equilibrium of combat."

The woman placed her hand back down and looked blankly at PB.

"I am sorry about our disruption of your daily lives, but our work, it is important to the planet. That is all I can say. Goodbye, Bonnibel."

PB was stunned by how the woman knew her name.

Second Arc opened the door and was about to step out of the room, but stopped just before exiting. Reaching over, she hit the alarm button positioned on the wall, which every one of PB's labs was equipped with in the event of an unstable experiment. As the bell rang loudly to attract Banana Guards to the room, Second Arc gave a small nod to Peebles and walked off down the corridor.

It took a few minutes, but the loyal protectors of the Candy Kingdom stormed into the lab, instantly astonished by the stiff Bubblegum inside. Her first words were an order to secure the castle. Half the guards were sent off to carry out the command, while the rest gently carried their leader down to the hospital room.

PB knew it was practically useless to try clamping down on Second Arc. For all she knew, the human could be disguised as one of her banana guards. Once the princess was safely in bed, she called for Peppermint Butler. The red-striped man came in a few moments later, holding an ice pack to his head. His ruler frowned.

"Pep But, what happened to your head?"

The candy man sighed.

"I'm afraid I had an unfortunate run-in with some scoundrel in the dark hallways."

Peebles asked the servant to remove his soothing ice. Sure enough, a nasty looking dent was present in his curved cranium. She gently rubbed the spot, hoping to help relieve the pain. Peppermint Butler let out a relaxed breath, telling her it worked.

"Ok. After getting a bandage for that injury, I want you to place a guard at every entrance to the castle."

The candy person bowed and promptly left the room, grabbing a fresh ice pack from a table nearby in the process. PB sighed once again.

_I hope the others had better luck than I did._

* * *

Jake disgustedly wiped off another drip of unknown green goop from his arm. Behind him, Susan chose to shake herself like a dog, flinging off the large amount of gross material that had clung to her head and shoulders. This was much to the discomfort of her friend, who groaned and wiped off his share (or rather hers) a second time.

"Susan, couldn't you be bit more careful?"

The humanoid just smiled.

"But goo feels nice."

Jake smacked his face, forgetting the large differences that remained between surface dwellers and Susan's people. Getting over it however, he pulled the map back out and studied it carefully. It was rather complicated.

"Man, I hated going through this place the first time. Now here I am again, crawling through a huge dungeon, with a wacko lady, trying to find a wackier dude who can probably squish me into a coffee cup."

Susan leaned down, confused.

"Jake, who you talk to?"

The magic dog only now realized he'd been ranting out-loud.

"Oh, uh, never mind that. Let's just get to the-"

A sudden rumbling attracted their attention. Not a ground shaking rumbling, but as if some metal object was being rolled across the stone floor. Jake grinned.

"Bingo."

He motioned for Susan to follow as the two made it around the corner. Walking a small distance, they came to an opening that overlooked their target: the toxic lake beneath the kingdom. And sure enough, the figure of a tall, muscular man could be seen, scooping out and sending barrels of the green waste rolling down the floor, where they formed a line with the ones who had already bumped into each other. Jake formed himself into a pole which his friend could use to slide down to the same level as Sixth Arc, who had fortunately not noticed them yet.

"Ok, Susie, here's the plan."

Jake suddenly rethought his original idea. He grew to the size of Susan and held up his fists.

"Actually, you know what, just run up and beat the nuts out of him."

The two companions instantly made a run at the human, who heard their heavy footsteps and swung around to face them. Reacting quickly, he caught both of the punches aimed at his face, stunning Jake and Susan. He then pulled them in, grabbing them by the throats, lifting them up, and smacking their heads together. The two were then hurled apart, landing hard on the floor.

"Aw man," Jake groaned.

"That did not go the way I thought it would."

Sixth Arc approached him, cracking his knuckles.

"You should learn to lie down, dog."

Just as the human was about to pummel the dizzied canine, he was tapped lightly on the shoulder. Turning around, he was immediately slugged in the face by Susan's fist. He grunted, then staggered back. Jake took the opportunity and tripped up the man with his stretched out leg. Upon hitting the floor, the Arc growled in frustration.

"Dang. Ok, that's it. No mercy!"

The circle on Sixth Arc's shirt glowed purple, then a second circle expanded from the ground he was lying on, spreading out to cover the whole area. Both Susan and Jake were briefly illuminated when the edge of the shape reached them. The two were shocked when the room was suddenly silent. Looking up, their eyes went wide upon seeing hanging water drops that were about to fall to the floor. However, they never did.

Not even the eerie echo of the tunnels entered the area, actually creeping them out even more so. Sixth Arc took advantage of their distracted senses and grabbed both by the back. Shoving them forward, he then made a running kick, forcing Susan to go flying at the ground. The woman groaned from the scrapes, but quickly returned to her feet regardless. Jake was being stretched apart at an alarming rate as their human foe was tying the magic dog into dozens of knots.

"Ngh, Susie, a little help?"

The humanoid tightened her fists and ran at the Arc.

"Let go of Jake, butt!"

The man failed to see the punch coming, releasing his hold on Jake as Susan proceeded to send him round after round of powerful strikes, all aimed at his face. The human was unable to resist for a while as she forced him further and further back towards the wall of the cave. Eventually, Sixth Arc felt his back touch stone and the impacts of his opponent's punches increased. A few hits were sent to his stomach, then back to the face. He grew angrier with each successful slug.

Sadly, Susan's streak was broken when the man caught her wrist and made a quick maneuver that switched their positions, slamming the woman into the wall while Sixth Arc held her to it and prepared to deliver his own cascade of punches. She bared her teeth and glared at him, realizing she could't escape his grip. Just as the human was drawing back his fist, he froze.

He stared into Susan's angry green eyes, as if he were trying to confirm something by peering into the black spots at their center. Jake recovered from his stretch and watched as Sixth Arc miraculously lowered his arm.

"It...It can't be."

Susan switched her own expression to one of confusion.

"What?"

The man reached up slowly and took hold of Susan's cat hat, still holding her against the wall. He then gently pulled it off, letting loose all of the woman's blonde hair, which fell and covered the majority of her face. Sixth Arc parted the locks to one side, at last revealing her full face. Jake gasped and grew wide-eyed.

"Susan...you're..."

There were no gills, no aquatic features anywhere on her complexion. She looked just like a female version of Finn. Sixth Arc finally backed away, releasing Susan from his grip and allowing her to step away from the wall. Although a bit shaken from being revealed, she was more concerned about her hat, which was still in the man's hand.

"Give back hat, jerk!"

She prepared to run at him again. Meanwhile, Jake looked over to the Arc.

"What are you playing at?"

Sixth Arc gazed sadly, first at Susan, then at Jake by slightly turning his head.

"She's...my sister."

* * *

A/N: No reviews? No problem. I see the traffic graphs, I know people are enjoying the read. Feedback is nice but it's not like I'm forcing you.


	10. Underestimated

-Underestimated-

Upon reaching the glorious and heated Fire Kingdom, Flame Princess wasted no time in reassembling her forces responsible for the search effort on the likely spy among her citizens. The fiery warriors lined up orderly before the throne, bowing to their ruler with the utmost respect.

"Has there been any progress?" the king asked.

The lead soldier stood up straight and eyed his monarch.

"No, your majesty. I regret to inform you that no disturbances or schemes have been discovered within the kingdom. We questioned, searched, and even dug into records. There's nothing."

FP sighed, disappointed.

"Alright. Thank you for your efforts. Standby for further directions."

The fire soldier saluted and ordered the rest of his men to vacate the palace. They did so in the same fashion as they'd entered, organized and errorless. Once the throne room contained only Flame Princess, CB, and a few guards, the fiery monarch allowed her mind to wander.

She thought about Finn. The guy could get into a lot of trouble, especially with all the crazy humans running around. His injuries were not what you'd call 'fully healed', there was a great chance that the impulsive hero would get himself hurt, which was not something FP wanted to happen.

The fire elemental reached down into a crevice in her royal armor, pulling out the delicate aluminum rose that the human had made for her. It sparkled in the surrounding fires, giving it an even greater luster and magnificence that only the king could appreciate. Well, one other person.

"That's a pretty one."

Cinnamon Bun was standing beside the throne, grinning with wonder at the item held in FP's hand. She smile at the candy person.

"Yeah. Finn made it."

The pastry being smiled wider.

"Was he confessing to you?"

Flame Princess instantly blushed and withdrew the flower.

"What, no! I mean, I know he still has feelings and stuff, that's obvious, but I don't think he'd-"

"Have the guts?" CB suggested.

FP flinched again.

"CB, you're being really...whimsical today. Is there something going on?"

The candy person hummed in thought for a moment.

"Nope. Don't think so."

He then looked back to the king.

"Hey, can I have some lava?"

Flame Princess relaxed. That seemed more like the spontaneous random bun she knew.

"Sure, I'll have one of the servants get you some."

Cinnamon Bun shuffled his feet.

"Uh, can it be core lava?"

The flame king froze. Core lava was only attainable through deep wells drilled into the kingdom's harsh volcanic rock. It had a purity that was held to high regard among all fire elementals. In fact, it was so valued, that no one could just 'get it'. There were certain processes to find one worthy enough to have a bucketful.

On top of that, CB was in no position to even know what the difference was. To him it's all just molten rock. Flame Princess carefully stood up, as the candy person just kept staring at her with his goodnatured grin. As an awkward moment ensued, FP tried to think of a way to know for certain what was going on. Suddenly, it hit.

"Guards, shut all the windows and lower your flames."

The towering sentinels did as told and quickly curtained the entire throne room. After completing the task, they took calming breaths and their heats levels lowered enough to remove the fire sprouting from the protrusions on their heads. Finally, FP lowered her energy output as well, bringing an eerie darkness to the room.

"How are you doing there, CB?"

She waited.

"I'm good."

A split second later, Flame Princess shot up her fire to bask the entire room in new light. Her face was set in anger as she held up a hand and fired a stream of combustion at the pastry being. To her utter shock, it phased right through him.

"What the heck?"

The guards restored natural light to the room and then gathered up to point all of their spears at Cinnamon Bun. FP approached the supposed candy person and glared at him.

"Sorry, but CB's still afraid of the dark. Who are you? Answer, now!"

The bun's bashful expression soon died down, now a blank look that was unlike his usual attitude. Suddenly, his form flickered, followed by an unstable static that distorted and eventually dissipated the image entirely. What was left behind briefly stunned the cautious flame guards, but their ruler just narrowed her eyes.

A girl, appearing a few years or so older than Flame Princess, stood calmly on the throne room floor. She wore a casual wintergreen skirt, in addition to a matching light sweater. This clothing had a zipper, about halfway up, revealing a soft yellow shirt underneath, upon which lay a circle containing the symbol 'III'.

Her rich brown hair hung to the middle of her back, even after having been tied into a tail at the top of her head. The skirt itself, FP noticed, was decorated with what looked like elegant green flower vines. Predictably enough, her warm eyes were also green. Overall, she seemed to be a girl born of the forest.

"I am Third Arc."

The guards increased their grip on their weapons, awaiting their king's command to apprehend or eliminate the human. FP tightened her fists and walked into the ring of her loyal protectors. She and her newly discovered impostor began circling each other, each eyeing the other carefully.

"What do you want from my kingdom?"

Third Arc held her soft features, never shaking the blank, yet pacifistic face she wore.

"I need the lava. It is imperative to our goal."

Flame Princess brought up her flaming hands.

"I don't think so. You and your buddies have been nothing but trouble to everyone. I'm going to put an end to it."

The human girl stopped walking, holding her hands in front of her.

"Please. I don't want to fight."

FP scoffed.

"Well tough. You're not getting away. Guards, seize her!"

As the fire elementals moved in, Third Arc sighed sadly.

"Very well. I'm sorry."

Before FP could inquire what she apologized for, the circle on the human's shirt glowed green. Next, a similar circle rippled out of the ground where she stood, expanding rapidly out into the area. The moment the border hit the guards, they froze in place, literally. The flames of the torches around the walls also froze, as did any noise that these objects were producing.

Flame Princess watched in shock at the world around her was paused, leaving nothing behind besides herself and the enigmatic girl in front of her. All else was a panorama, a 360 degree photograph.

"What is this?"

Third Arc observed the effects of her action.

"HAVEN, a special environment created to limit the harm we Arcs may cause if forced to deal with one of you."

She took a step towards FP.

"Two opponents, no more. Until one of us is unable to fight, the field will remain active, and nothing will move."

Flame Princess bared her teeth, frustrated by such a complicated process.

"Fine. But you won't last long. This is my home, and I can literally use it to burn you to ashes."

She shot a blast of flames at Third Arc, who simply waved her arm in response. As if by magic, the dozens of plants now arranging the throne room reacted, shooting out and forming a wall of vines in front of the human. The fire impacted, but did little against the native flora. FP was bewildered.

"What the junk?!"

The vines retracted, yet remained close to the human. She reached over and gently touched one of them.

"When you show compassion, it is likely to be repaid, even by nature itself."

Flame Princess shook off her astonishment and produced a flame sword, charging at the Arc. The vines tried to protect her again, but the fire elemental slashed them apart in seconds, proceeding through. She attempted to get a hit on the human, but found her weapon phase right through her.

"Huh? This better not be one of Fourth Arc's illusions."

Third Arc shook her head.

"Don't worry. It's not. It's just my nature."

FP eyed the girl with confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Her foe touched the broken vines, instantly healing them. They then retreated, returning to the peaceful arrangement around the room.

"This will hardly be a battle. For neither of us will be dealt any harm."

Flame Princess froze, not like her guards mind you, but still quite stunned.

"But...then how will there ever be a point when one of us can't fight?"

Third Arc began walking towards her.

"One of us must choose to let the other leave."

FP tightened her fists.

"Like heck! I'd never allow you to just go free."

The human frowned.

"Flame Princess, please, I'm not trying to harm anyone. Your people are proud and strong, one of the greatest races I've seen on this continent. All I ask, is that you let my companions and I do our duty, and do not involve yourselves."

The flame king was silent for a moment, then closer her eyes.

"No. I can't."

Third Arc remarkably didn't get frustrated. Instead, she kept her calm and took a few more steps forward, now practically directly in front of the fiery girl.

"What if we could trade?"

FP raised an eyebrow.

"Trade what?"

The human placed her hand over her chest.

"I'll tell you where the real Cinnamon Bun is, along with the other impostered beings."

Flame Princess thought it over. After a moment, she found the opportunity.

"Throw in what you're planning and its a deal."

Third Arc momentarily looked concerned, but came up with a response.

"Alright, if you add in the lava."

Driving a hard bargain was not one of FP's strong points, but this deal was definitely holding a lot at stake. Either they both get what they want, or neither does. The deciding factor was if she had enough confidence in herself and her friends to stop the Arcs later on.

She held out her hand.

"Deal."

Third Arc grasped and gently shook the young ruler's hand. Just by this contact alone, FP could sense the enormous amount of power within the human. As big as it was however, it was not intimidating, but instead calming, as if it were a grand shield of protection for any who were weaker than it. The power's owner smiled hopefully, but Flame Princess did not find the mood to do so in return.

As they released the shake, Third Arc brought her hands together again.

"If I may, there is a gift of sorts I would like to give you."

FP looked cautiously at the human.

"What is it?"

The Arc carefully reached out.

"May I?"

Hesitating, the fire elemental finally nodded. The human girl proceeded to bring a finger to the ruler's abdomen, where a sudden strange sensation erupted. It didn't hurt, in fact felt quite numbing. FP closed her eyes as the odd feeling crept all throughout her body. The imagery soon changed to her flying through the air, light as a feather. It actually made her smile on the outside.

Soon however, the experience ended, as Third Arc removed her contact and took a step back, smiling humbly as the fire elemental examined herself. She placed a hand over her midsection.

"What did you do?"

The human just kept smiling, as her green circle glew once more. Within moments, the entire area was reanimated, allowing the fires, sounds, and guards to resume their actions. Before they came too close, Flame princess beckoned to them.

"Stop! She's free to go."

Utterly confused, the protective men looked at each other, then shrugged and backed off. Third Arc looked back to FP. The king turned, walked to her throne, and kneeled down to retrieve an item wedged behind it. After removing the obstruction, it was revealed to be a cylindric volcanic container.

She stood back up and came back over to Third Arc, presenting her with the core lava. The human accepted it, then gave a very respectful thank you.

"Your friend, he and the others are on the eleventh floor of Princess Bubblegum's secret royal dungeon."

Flame Princess nodded.

"And?"

The human reached into a pocket and retrieved a small chip, which she handed to the fiery girl. FP briefly studied it, then gazed back at Third Arc.

"I don't understand, why are you so cooperative?"

The human sighed again.

"It is not like me to spread ill will. I find it difficult to lie or hurt anyone, whether physically or emotionally. My friends knew from the very beginning that I would be the one to reveal us, that's why I asked to be given the most secluded role in the plan."

Third Arc looked back at FP.

"I understand your opinion of humans is less than favorable, but please, once you look at the information on that chip, I hope that you'll reconsider your interference."

She turned to leave. Flame Princess took a step forward.

"Wait! How come you're not burning up?"

The young ruler had just realized Third Arc had no form of protection on her person, meaning she was completely exposed to the lethal heat of the Fire Kingdom. Or so she thought. The human turned back and smiled one last time.

"Like I said, even nature will return its kindness if compassion is given."

FP shot her eyes up to the plants the disguised girl had been setting up for the past several weeks. The Arc then gestured to the king herself.

"It was my opinion that _passion_ should also count towards that statement."

The human resumed exiting the palace, leaving behind a confused Flame Princess, who placed her hand over her gut, wondering what she meant.

* * *

Sadly, there was no convenient drip of water to break the tense silence inside the Candy Kingdom underground. Jake was still speechless, unable to believe what Sixth Arc had just uttered. Susan meanwhile, was having somewhat of a staring contest with the muscled man before her. Amazingly, he threw Susie her hat back, which she caught and quickly pulled back over her head.

There was a tear in Sixth Arc's eye as he closed off his vision.

"I'm so sorry. But I can't turn my back on my friends."

He charged, preparing to engage his opponent once more. Susan's response was to block the punch and attempt to shove the guy back, but found that too difficult. Instead, she was smashed back into the wall, grunting from the pain in her back. Suddenly, she got angry.

"Susan kick your butt!"

Sixth Arc yelped as he was struck in the nether regions, causing him to move back and try to shake off the hurting. Unfortunately for him, Susan didn't give him the time to do so. She ran forward, catching the Arc in a flurry of punches to the face. He was progressively pushed back, closer to the toxic river from which he was gathering waste. Soon, the radioactive material was just at his backside.

Susan gave one last punch, sending the man falling down towards the green liquid. He panicked, knowing full well that the hazardous substance would not only cause significant burning, but also harm his physical state. Just as he thought it was over however, his foe caught him by the collar of his shirt.

Jake ran up to the two, watching carefully as Susan pulled Sixth Arc back up and stared him in the face. There was a quiet moment for a while, until the woman's facial expression changed from aggressive, to passive.

"I...your sister?"

Sixth Arc shook off his slight fear and gazed into her green eyes.

"Y-yes. I remember. We were both really young, but we played together all the time. I remember your eyes, they always looked so happy."

He smiled.

"Susan, they call you?"

The woman nodded.

"It's a wonderful name."

Susie backed away from the glowing green river, allowing Sixth Arc to stand upright.

"Why you with bad guys?" she asked sadly.

The Arc matched her expression and hung his head.

"There are certain things that require sacrifice. Some more than others."

He looked over at Jake.

"I know you don't understand us, but we have good intentions. We hide only because you would refuse to see the big picture."

The magical dog frowned.

"You're not talking your way out of this one, buddy."

He cracked his knuckles, then grew his fists huge as if ready to pound the human. However, Susan pushed the big hands aside.

"Jake, wait. Let him go."

Jake was ecstatic.

"What! You're nuts! He's stealing and plotting, that's two reasons to book him."

The woman was insistent.

"No. We give him chance. Then, we talk to his friends when he returns."

The dog studied his companion carefully. As far as he could tell, she was dead serious. Giving in, Jake nodded, then stretched his head to look over to Sixth Arc.

"Get out of here, finish your junk. We'll be waiting to beat the nuts off of you if anything funny goes on."

The man was momentarily stunned. Then, he solemnly looked to his sister. Susan was giving him a blank look. Finally, the circle on his shirt resonated again, quickly causing activity to return to the surroundings. Once the dripping water was again heard through everyone's eardrums, Sixth Arc dashed for his line of toxic barrels.

After giving them a kick, the containers clattered down the nearby tunnel, rolling along into the darkness. The man gave one final look to Jake and Susan, looking fairly sad as he entered the unlit corridor himself, out of sight. The two stared off into the black opening for a few minutes, as if entranced by its hollow appearance.

"You really think he's your bro?" Jake asked.

Susan kept staring.

"We find out soon."

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's late, I've been really tired for the past few days.

Just a Normal Reader: I was hoping for a good response, thanks.

I am The7: Yes, it's all really sad and depressing.

DJ Rodriguez: Good to know I've got the mystery part down.


	11. Secrets and Memories

-Secrets and Memories-

When he first awoke after the extremely painful blow to his cranium, Finn was a hundred percent sure he didn't even have a head and that his eyes simply floated over his neck. The numb, intangible feeling ringing all through his temple made it nearly impossible to think, save for the distance memory of his dream during the time he'd been out.

_The Earth, struck by the same force. Everything dark, on fire, ruined and desolate. _

What did it all mean? Why had these strange nightmares been circling his mind like a swarm of angry bees? Shaking his head, along with a groan, the human attempted to stand up. Luckily, his legs had minimal damage, consisting of only a few minor scrapes and cuts. Steadying his breathing, the hero tried focusing and looking around.

He was still in Red Rock Pass, surrounded by walls of crimson stone and boulders that could crush him. Looking back to the one he'd been lying against, Finn was stunned to see Fifth Arc, dozed off while leaning onto the giant rock. He cautiously approached the girl, not wanting to wake her up, at least for the moment. After kneeling down, he experimentally gave her shoulder a shake.

No response came at first, she just groaned softly and tried to roll over into a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, it only resulted in her falling the rest of the way to the dusty ground. Concerned, Finn quickly gathered the girl up and set her back in a sitting stance. He gave her another shake. This time, her eyes cracked open.

Instantly, Finn was on the ground himself, a hand squeezing his throat as he struggled to get up. It was no use however; Fifth Arc had much more leverage from her current positioning. She glared down at the hero.

"Why didn't you run?"

Finn glared back.

"Why would I do that?"

The girl growled and got off of him, pulling him up then shoving him away. The boy did his best to ready another fight, but found that Fifth Arc was just looking at him, with no sign of an offensive guard. Confused, Finn slowly lowered his fists, staring at her, waiting for a response. At last, she shook her head.

"To remain that cognitive after the hit you took? That's insane."

The hero frowned.

"Can't you do anything else besides move fast and make fun of me?"

Fifth Arc crossed her arms. She grunted a bit, which caused Finn to become curious all over again. He studied the way she was standing. There was a definite tilt to her posture, as if her leg didn't have full strength. He gazed at the human in the eyes.

"You're leg is busted, isn't it?"

Fifth Arc growled, upset that he'd figured her out.

"Yeah, so what? You gonna beat me up now since I can't move well?"

Finn recoiled, shocked.

"What? No way! That's messed up to attack a wounded foe."

The girl was now the one stunned.

"Are you serious?"

The hero took a determined step forward.

"Absolutely. Come on, I can get you back to your place."

He offered his hand, being only a few feet away from Fifth Arc at this point. She just kept staring at him. She'd caused him a lot of trouble, especially to his head, and here he was, giving his assistance with a humble smile. She didn't understand the boy at all, shaking her head.

"You're so dumb for helping the enemy."

She tried to walk, but immediately felt the pain and cried out from it. Luckily, Finn caught her before the support to stand was lost. He gathered her up in both limbs, carrying her bridal style. It took significant amounts of his own effort to not fall from the weight of both himself and the girl, but his endurance never left him, and so he pressed on.

Step by step, the boy carried Fifth Arc out of the Pass, climbing dangerous and unstable footing in order to make it out of the deep gorge that was the miniature canyon. Finn finally cleared the chasm, letting out a long breath upon setting the girl down on a nearby rock.

"Man, you're kinda heavy."

He immediately received a punch to his stomach, nearly making him hurl.

"…Sorry," he groaned.

Once that pain passed, he suddenly smacked his head.

"Aw, I totally forgot!"

He carefully removed his white bear hat, surprising Fifth Arc with the blonde mane hidden underneath. After digging around for a moment as if it were a sack, Finn reclaimed a small vial of clear liquid. Smiling with satisfaction, the hero stepped over and kneeled down to get closer to Fifth Arc's injured leg. She was unsure of what the substance he was about to pour was, but reminded herself that this was a hero, he would never actively harm or trick someone.

As the drop hit her twisted ankle, a brief second of numbness overtook the area. Then, a mere flash afterwards, she suddenly felt her newly repaired ligament. Shocked, the girl looked up to Finn, who had replaced his hat and held his now re-corked vial triumphantly.

"Emergency cyclops tears. Never leave home without them."

Admitting he was prepared, Fifth Arc was about to actually thank the boy, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Finn appeared to become woozy and dropped to his bottom. Now fully mobile, the human female was at his side in a blur.

"You alright?"

The young hero did his best to grin while holding his aching head.

"Yeah, I'm good."

He then frowned.

"I'm not blaming you guys but, ever since you showed up, I've been having these crazy nightmares. They leave a really bad headache when I wake up."

Fifth Arc took a moment to register what he'd said, before her eyes grew wide.

"Nightmares?"

Finn nodded.

"Yep. Things like the planet burning and getting jacked up."

As the boy continued to try pressing his skull until it stopped hurting, Fifth Arc stared at him, appearing to be in deep thought. A minute later, Finn found her offering him a hand up. Smiling with appreciation, he accepted the offer and allowed the Arc to bring him to his feet.

"Than-"

Instantly, Finn was knocked out, struck in the head by Fifth Arc, who figured his previous injuries would allow her to successfully disable the poor guy. As dust shot up from where Finn's body fell, she took great effort in gathering him up and swinging him over her back.

"Pssh. And he called _me _heavy."

Once the boy was securely held, Fifth Arc turned towards her intended destination and was off, disappearing from Red Rock pass at the speed of a bullet.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum cracked her neck one last time. It had been well past the time frame for recovering her movements, but the sleep she'd gotten the night before still wasn't enough to relieve the effects completely. Sighing in shame at her pitiful loss to Second Arc, the candy monarch strolled out of her room and prepared to get ready for the day's work.

Jake and Susan had returned from their task and were now waiting patiently in the princess's study; the location they were all to meet in. Once PB managed to finish the morning's routine, she walked into the quiet room and approached the dog and woman. She smiled her best, which honestly wasn't that much considering how bad she felt.

"Morning, guys. How was the recon?"

Jake rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, um. We found Sixth Arc, but…"

Peebles refocused and narrowed her eyes.

"But…?"

The magical dog nervously tapped his fingers together.

"We sort of…let him go."

Bubblegum's eye twitched for a few seconds as she absorbed the information. Her two guests were a bit frightened.

"You did WHAT!"

She stamped over and smacked her hands down on the table in front of Jake's seat.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?"

The shivering canine shrunk down to the size of a pea, utterly terrified by the red-faced princess. As PB drew off aggressive breaths, Susan walked over and placed a hand on the monarch's shoulder.

"Bubblegum, not Jake's fault. Mine."

Peebles swung around to face the woman, looking deeply distressed.

"Susan, how could you? They're dangerous people!"

Jake suddenly found some guts.

"Hey, you can't talk to a human like that!"

PB snapped her head around to angrily glance at the dog, who shrunk down even further to the size of a grain of rice. However, the monarch's face suddenly dropped to one of shock. She gazed back at the person before her.

"Susan…you're…a human?"

The towering woman slowly reached up and pulled off her hat, once more allowing the blonde locks hidden underneath to frame her smooth, gill-less face. PB took a step back, stunned beyond measure.

"This is…this is…Finn! We have to find him! He'd want to know!"

Jake jumped off the table, returning to his normal size.

"And that's not even the craziest part."

Peebles looked to the dog, then back to Susan.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Susie closed her eyes and frowned.

"Man with six, he is brother."

Bubblegum froze, just staring at the human while she remained holding a solemn face.

"Sixth Arc. Your brother?"

Susan nodded.

"I let him go. He has good heart. Didn't fight us if we let him take green goop."

The princess sighed.

"Susan, he and his allies may be plotting something horrific. Do you really want to allow him to finish whatever they're planning?"

The human furrowed her brow.

"I trust my friends. We beat circle people before they hurt our home."

Her expression saddened.

"And maybe, get back family."

All was silent for a moment, as Peebles tried to think of what to say in response. Her morals remained hard on stopping the Arcs, but so far, the mysterious humans had proven as cryptic as their schemes. Some fought, some gathered, some planned, **all** apologized. They made little sense, which gave room for suspicion. Still, they were human, a race thought to have been snuffed out to near extinction.

Princess Bubblegum decided, letting a breath out of her nose.

"Alight, Susan. We'll find and stop them, that's how it will play out."

The woman stepped forward and caught the monarch in a quite painful hug, which she stated very clearly by the lack of ability to breath. Luckily, Jake was able to talk the human out of crushing the royalty. The moment PB brushed off the dirt she'd obtained from Susan, the ground shook as if hit by extreme force.

"What in Glob's name?"

The trio burst out of the study and down the halls, determined to find the nearest window and find out what was causing the tremor-like event. When an opening finally emerged, Jake went right ahead and punched the entire wall out so that Susan could fit through, telling an irritated Bubblegum that he'd fix it later. Once the group made it to the edge of the castle, what they saw astounded them.

A massive fiery vortex was drilling its way out of the ground, as countless citizens watched in bewilderment. The towering inferno suddenly buckled, shrinking down to a thin funnel of flames, revealing a good sized hole in the earth. At last, the phenomenon dissipated entirely, revealing the smirking figure of Flame Princess inside. The fire elemental quickly floated over to where the others were standing, stunned that it was her all along.

"FP, what's wrong with you? You can't just decide to build a subway around here!"

PB smacked Jake in the back of the head for the awful joke.

"Flame Princes, explain yourself this instant."

The fiery king set herself down gently on the floor, then gestured to the hole she'd carved.

"Just recuing some people. Nothing major."

All eyes returned to the pit, where three beings could be seen crawling out. One was a penguin, the other a goblin, and the third a pastry. The gang was in disbelief.

"Gunter! Cinnamon Bun! Gummy!"

Jake stretched the group down to the ground, where the mostly oriented trio had gotten to their feet.

"Are you all ok?" Peebles asked.

Gummy rubbed his head.

"Yes. I believe so."

Cinnamon Bun gave a thumbs up.

"I'm good too."

"Wenk."

Flame Princess joined the group a moment later, as Peebles went on.

"Where were you all?"

Gummy thought back.

"Well, I was just minding my own business when that meteor landed outside the kingdom, then, someone came up behind me and knocked me out. When I woke up, the place was on fire."

Everyone looked to FP.

"They were in some sort of stasis pods. I think it kept them alive without eating and everything."

Bubblegum folded her arms.

"Most ingenious. Wait, how did you find out about their location?"

The young ruler spent a good ten minutes explaining her encounter with the pacific Third Arc. Once the explanation was done, the others all looked much more nervous.

"This is bad," Jake began.

"We're letting them take everything they need. Who knows how close they are to their goal now."

PB nodded in agreement.

"Yes, we must find out more, but we're running out of time."

Flame Princess then reached into her pocket and retrieved the chip Third Arc had given her, tossing it to the candy monarch.

"Here, I managed to strike this in with the deal. It should be everything we need to know."

Peebles appeared worried, studying the item.

"That girl's teammates risked much by allowing her to participate, seeing as it seems difficult for her to be in conflict."

She turned towards the castle.

"Come on, let's see what's on here."

The rest nodded and followed her towards the building. FP glanced back at her loyal right-hand man.

"CB, head back to the Fire Kingdom, ok?"

He saluted.

"Got it."

And he was off. Gummy took his own initiative and made his way to the Goblin Kingdom. Gunter meanwhile, stood there, blinking a few times, then finally waddled away in the direction of the Ice Kingdom.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum pulled out her high-tech projector, dragging it to the center of her study so that everyone could get a good view. After wiping the sweat from her brow, the candy monarch took out the chip and tensely slid it into the slot to activate the projector. While a hologram began to emerge, Jake grabbed popcorn and politely asked Flame Princess to heat it up. Once the completely unnecessary snack was in the magical dog's hands, the image stabilized.

It depicted Ooo, in all its glory and detail. However, a blossom of five falling objects suddenly appeared from the top of the reconstruction.

"It's those 'meteors'," FP said, glaring at the virtual video.

The group of plummeting 'rocks' fell to just where they did in real life, outside or within the five kingdoms that had been infiltrated. The image zoomed in on one of them, showing a detailed schematic of what the objects really were. All were stunned.

"That level of technology; it's madness!"

Peebles studied the blueprint.

"Specially designed probes, which, upon impact, allow whoever was inside to quickly jump out and vacate the area. Then, the pod explodes, eliminating any evidence such as footprints while quietly disintegrating into the wind, never to reveal what actually landed."

Susan tilted her head.

"But where they come from?"

The hologram zoomed out, showing the flight route of the five probes. They all came from another continent on Earth.

"So, they've gathered themselves up, and Ooo is the final stop for their ultimate plan."

PB flicked through the data on the chip, looking for the answer to the Arc's goal. She stopped when she found the items the humans had collected so far.

"A large mass of toxic waste, raw metal scraps, a star chart, lightning power, and, from what Flame Princess told us, lava from the planet's core."

The four beings in the room all thought hard.

"What could it all mean?"

Jake grinned and pointed to the projector.

"Well, let's dig deeper."

Peebles nodded, then pressed the fast-forward button on the machine. Unfortunately, the hologram cut out as soon as she touched it.

"Aw man, you broke it, Prubs."

The princess glared at Jake.

"I did not!"

Before more argument could commence, the hologram reactivated. Only this time, it was in the form of a person. A woman, to be exact. No one except PB gave the figure anything more than a blank stare. Bubblegum narrowed her eyes.

"Second Arc."

The holographic human looked straight ahead.

"If you are seeing this information, it can only mean that Third Arc has reached her limit with keeping our operation a secret. I cannot blame her, it is only her nature. Following that, I can now reveal that the information on this data chip is incomplete, unlike what I told my dear friend. It was a lie, yes, but a necessary one."

The group groaned, thinking they'd gotten so close.

"You Ooocians can try all you want to stop us, but as I am sure you have seen, we are more than capable of dealing with any and all interference. For the sake of your own safely and that of your loved ones, I highly suggest you stay out of our way."

With those last words, the hologram was terminated. In addition, the chip fizzled, self-destructing by means of disintegration. Everyone gazed sadly at the ruined info drive.

"Now what?" Jake asked.

For a moment, all was silent. Then, Flame Princess stepped up.

"We don't listen to them."

The gang was rather shocked.

"They're not invincible. Every being has a weak point."

She tightened a fist.

"I say we go for it. We can be stronger, faster, and smarter than those bad examples to Finn's species. Who's with me?"

Jake had at first been skeptical, but gradually caught on to the girl's words and smiled.

"Yeah. I'm with you, FP."

"So is Susan."

"I as well."

The four came together, joining hands in the middle to signify their resolve. Sadly, the grand unification was halted by a thundering tremor that brought every picture frame in the room crashing to the ground. Everyone looked at FP. She held up her hands.

"Hey, wasn't me."

Another quake hit, knocking everyone to the floor.

"What is that!?" Jake shouted in slight fear.

* * *

The end to another nightmare brought consciousness back to Finn's head. He opened his eyes to see a damp and dark room, obviously constructed of stone based on what little he could make out from the light of the torches. He tried to get up, but found that his wrists were bound in metal cuffs, which in turn were connected to the wall with chains.

"Aw great, just what I needed."

A rumbling instantly echoed through the area, causing lines of dirt to trickle from the degraded surroundings. Finn spat out what material made it to his mouth, then watched as several small stones rained down as well. He looked up, hoping to see what was causing the quakes.

"Man, what the nuts is happening up there?"

Footsteps answered his question a second later. The hero watched carefully in the direction of the sound. Soon enough, the light reflected off of a white lab coat, worn by a woman with dark skin and neatly kept black hair.

"Who the heck are you?" the boy asked.

The lady came closer, then knelt down slightly to be eye level with him. Just from her face, Finn could tell she was highly intellectual. That cool, collected mannerism was something he'd encountered before; not to this degree of course.

"I am Second Arc, Finn."

The hero's eyes widened.

"You! What do you want with me?"

The woman softened her expression. Another tremor followed.

"Tell me what's happening up there, now!"

Finn rarely raised his voice, especially to demand something, but he was worried for his friends on the surface.

"We needed extra time to finish our plan, so in the meantime, Ooo will be dealing with a little something special."

She stood back up and took a step back.

"As for you, Finn, we need to figure out what is causing the connection between our arrival here, and your dreams."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I am not risking the chance that you may be a foreseer who can unveil our plans. The stakes are too high as it stands now."

The boy glared.

"Do your worst."

Second Arc pulled out a strange device from her coat, then planted it on Finn's forehead.

"I will not. I only do what is necessary."

A moment later, Finn screamed as the object's abilities dug into his thoughts.

* * *

A/N: It's good to be on time.

DJ Rodriguez: It's still a mystery, for now.

OMAC001: Don't you worry about updates. They're on a stable schedule.

I am The7: Heh heh, not just yet.


	12. Buying Time

-Buying Time-

The citizens of the Candy Kingdom shouted in utter fear all over the streets, panicking and running into each other as the ground continued to shake violently. Soon enough, their beloved leader, along with Jake, FP, and Susan, burst out of the castle's front doors and scanned the area, looking for any cracks to signify an earthquake.

Strangely enough, no sign of broken ground was visible, only the repeating vibrations from within the planet.

"We've got to figure out what this is. Jake, take us up."

The magical dog did as asked by the princess and placed her and Susan on his back. As Flame Princess followed close by, he stretched his legs to tower over the rest of the kingdom, giving the group the ultimate vantage point. Upon taking a minute to scan the surroundings, PB noticed a fault forming near the surface at multiple points.

"There's something under the crust, moving."

To strengthen the monarch's declaration, half a dozen dirt-based explosions emerged from all over the kingdom, heralding the appearance of whatever was hidden beneath the earth's skin. As the massive objects slammed to the ground from their skyward bursts, the four observing them were shocked.

"Oh my Glob! It's a bunch of sand worms!"

The gigantic creatures slithered along the city, bashing apart whatever they came in contact with, terrorizing the citizens even further. Bubblegum watched in both astonishment and anger as the beasts reduced her land to rubble.

"Second Arc. She cloned my worm!"

Jake momentarily lost his balance, nearly causing his passengers to fall. Luckily, he stabilized and began to lower them to a more workable height.

"How do we deal with these things?" Jake shouted as a worm blew past his left leg.

Peebles studied the layout of the city, trying to decide on a course of action.

"We'll have to work in groups, but it'll be difficult since there are only four of us."

Losing hope of saving any part of her kingdom, PB was stunned by the sudden voice of someone familiar.

"Then be happy we're here to help out."

The four swung their eyes to the sky, seeing a rapidly approaching Marceline and Ice King.

"Marcy! What are you doing here?"

The vampire smirked as she floated to eye level with the princess.

"We can't have your place go down in flames now can we?"

PB smiled, appreciative of her old friend. She then turned to the hovering Ice King.

"And you?" she said with little enthusiasm.

The wizard grinned.

"Hey, I wanted to help too. Get on your good side, know what I'm sayin?"

Peebles face-palmed and groaned.

"Let's stick with you just being a good citizen. Ok?"

IK looked a bit saddened but sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, ok."

Suddenly, Jake began to wobble extensively, throwing his two friends off his back. Luckily, Marcy and Ice King caught them before the gravity could. Down below, four of the sand worms had wrapped themselves around the dog's stretchy legs, immobilizing him.

"Oh jeez, I'm not doing too good, guys!"

Flame Princess responded by floating down and firing a powerful stream of fire at the nearest worm holding the canine down. Unfortunately, her attack didn't even leave a scratch. PB called from Marceline's hold.

"It's no use, Flame Princess, they're hides are fire-resistant!"

Frustrated, the fiery girl produced a flame sword and charged at the creature, aiming to pierce its surface with the sharp weapon. However, her anger caused her to miss the fifth worm plowing along, which slammed into her and flattened the fire elemental against its glass-like cockpit.

Upon opening her eyes, FP was shocked to see what lay inside the behemoth's controls.

"They're…they're being controlled by some kind of computer brains!"

As she said, a massive technological core was connected to the tubes operating the worm, with dozens of flashing lights that signaled the device was working. Figuring it was the weak spot, FP attempted to impale her blazing weapon through the glass and destroy the machine. However, as soon as she drew her arm back, the worm halted, surprising and throwing the young ruler off.

Flame Princes landed in a pile of rubble, rubbing her head.

"Ugh, that one hurt."

The sand worm resumed its path, attempting to burrow right into the fire elemental. She panicked and closed her eyes, thinking this will hurt a lot more. Luckily, she wasn't alone. A multitude of black tentacles grabbed the worm and stopped its advancement. Stunned by the lack of pummeling, FP opened her sight to see a monstrous being wrestling with the giant digging beast. The creature's face turned to the fiery girl as it struggled to hold back the tunneling being.

"FP, get out of there!"

The fire elemental was shocked.

"Marceline?"

"Yeah, I know, I look hideous. Now go!"

Flame Princess thought for a moment.

"Wait. I've got a better idea. Keep it still."

The shape-shifter vampire glowered at her.

"What do you think I've been doing!?"

FP ignored the comment and recreated a flame sword, charging at the sand worm's front again. This time, she was able to give the red glass protecting its core a few fiery slashes, shattering it. Dissipating the blade, she backed away and held her hands in front of her, generating a powerful nucleus of flames.

"Eat this, chump!"

The young king let loose her scorching inferno, which hit the worm's artificial controller dead on, instantly melting and blowing it to pieces. Marceline felt the worm stop struggling, and released her tentacles from it. It slammed to the ground, no longer moving. The vampire quickly reverted to her humanoid from and stood before the giant creature. FP landed beside her.

"Hm, nice job, lightning bug."

The fiery girl glared at her, prompting Marcy to laugh.

"Just kidding."

As the dark-haired girl began lifting back into the air, the worm's body began to shift. Its surface became rather unstable, and the ground upon which it lay rumbled slightly. Within seconds, the digging behemoth exploded into a mountain's worth of sand, crashing down upon the two girls who were nearby. They shielded their heads as the grainy mineral buried them.

A full square block of the city was now enveloped by the sand, ruining anything that was in its range. As the fine particles settled, a tower of flames suddenly shot out. Once the blaze had deformed into the air, a glassy hole remained in its wake. Out of this opening came Flame Princess, still spitting out sand from her mouth.

Marceline floated out behind her, vigorously rubbing her face.

"Agh! I got some in my eyes!"

FP looked around and spotted a fire hydrant. With some expert aim, she fired a ball of combustion at it, causing it to burst and spray a fountain up to the sky. As Marcy felt the drops hit her skin, she caught some in the palm of her hands and splashed it into her burning peepers.

As the vampire let out a sigh of relief and readjusted her vision, she looked over to the hovering fire elemental and gave her an appreciative grin.

"Thanks."

FP nodded.

"No prob. Hey, how come you're not burning up? It's daytime."

Marcy pointed to the sky, which the princess then looked towards, making her gasp. The heavens were all but invisible, shrouded by a deep layer of dark storm clouds. There was no rain, or thunder, or even lightning. It was as if the world simply had a blindfold on.

"Whoa, when did that happen?"

Marceline and FP flew off to help the others.

"A few hours ago. It's weird because no one forecasted anything close to a storm today; or the next week for that matter."

The two girls came up on Jake, who was still having trouble with the four worms holding him down. Ice King was doing his best to freeze the rampaging one that continued to level the kingdom. Susan was busy bashing one of the constricting beasts in the face, giving its glass cockpit several nasty cracks.

Soon enough, she succeeded in punching through, jumping in and grabbing the egg-shaped unit controlling it. The woman quickly tore the object out of the multiple cords connecting it to the sand worm, then dashed out of it as the creature began to shut down. As she dove and took cover behind the wall of a broken building, the worm exploded, unleashing a torrent of sand that bashed into the human's barricade.

Luckily, it didn't spill over that much, allowing her to briskly dig her way out and crush the cybernetic brain between her hands.

"Worm goes down," she smirked.

Now having one of his appendages free, Jake quickly swung it over and punched one of the remaining worms off of him. Now with two available limbs, he stood up on his still bound hind legs and grabbed the other two squirmy worms with his giant hands.

"Ok, boys, lay off the fur!"

With a massive toss, he sent the two burrowers hurling out of the kingdom's borders, where they crashed into the cotton candy forest on the outskirts. Princess Bubblegum watched from Jake's back.

"That won't do any good, they'll just tunnel back over here."

The magical dog shrank lower until he was but fifty feet high.

"Then what do we do?"

The candy monarch reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange remote-like device.

"If you can get me right in their face, I can fire an EMP beam to disable their control hubs."

Jake nodded and set his eyes upon the two worm's tails as they reentered the earth. In the meantime, Ice King had successfully immobilized his target, now adding on multiple layers of frost to ensure it couldn't escape.

"Yeah! How do ya like me now, sucker?"

A massive crack appeared in the worm's prison.

"Oh beans."

The ice shattered, sending frozen chunks in all directions, one of which hit the wizard in the head, knocking off his crown and letting him fall to the ground. To his esteemed luck, he landed in a pond of cream soda. Upon resurfacing, he tried licking off the sticky substance.

"Mm, tasty."

His enjoyment was interrupted as the previously frozen worm bore down on him, forcing the old man to cover his eyes and shriek like a little girl. Just as he was about to be pulverized, the creature's movement was halted by Jake's massive mitts. PB rode on the magical dog's head, tossing IK his crown back.

"Ice King, help Jake hold it down!"

The bumbling wizard acknowledged the princess's order and fired his powers at the worm's underbelly. Meanwhile, Peebles jumped off and ran down one of Jake's outstretched arms, coming up to the sand being's maw.

"Take this!"

She aimed her device at the cockpit, unleashing an electrical beam that attempted to pierce the technological brain within the beast. However, as soon as the ray struck the crimson glass protecting the unit, it fizzled out. Bubblegum was in shock as the worm broke free of Jake and Ice King's bindings. The yellow bulldog managed to catch the catapulted PB as she flew through the air.

"Gotcha!"

He retreated into his protective ball form, bouncing along the ground with the monarch safely inside. Once they were a fair distance away, he unraveled and returned to his normal shape. Ice King floated over as well, but mostly because he was scared of the rampaging sand worms.

"I don't get it, why didn't it work?" Jake asked.

PB growled at the distant worms.

"Second Arc must have placed an electrostatic barrier on the worms' hubs. The EMP can't penetrate that glass."

As the group though about how to deal with the tunneling creatures, Susan suddenly jumped down next to them, looking quite battered.

"Susan have plan."

The others stared at her in astonishment.

"Really? Way to go Susie!" Jake congratulated.

PB walked up to the towering lady.

"What have you got for us?"

The woman knelt down to the ground, as did everyone else. Using her finger, she began drawing a plan in the candy dirt.

"Jake stretch into big worm, just like bad ones, then me and princess ride on his head while fire lady and blue old guy fly over us."

"Hey!"

"Get over it, Simon."

"They zap worms with their magic to get them to attack Jake, he hold monster steady, then I bash them in face to break glass. Princess can then shoot her light thing into worm's mouth."

Bubblegum smiled.

"That's excellent, Susan. A team effort. It should work."

Marceline came forward.

"What about me, huh?"

Susan thought for a moment, then smiled.

"You be lookout, tell us if worms are about to attack."

The vampire shrugged then headed up into the air, taking her role. Susan tightened her fist.

"Let's go."

Following his que, Jake expanded his body to massive proportions, then tucked in his arms and legs to form the splitting image of a burrowing beast himself. PB and Susan hopped on to get in their positions, while Ice King and Flame princess flew up and charged their respective elemental powers. With the formation assembled, Jake charged forward, aiming at the nearest thrashing sand worm. IK fired several volleys of ice lightning at the behemoth, irritating it and causing it to turn around and make a run at Jake.

The magic dog acted fast, twining his body around the foe and immobilizing it as best he could. As he did, Susan dove at the burrower's face, slugging it in the glass with the full might of her fist. A web of cracks instantly formed, as she swung her second blow to finish the job. The second strike blew the canopy apart, exposing the core within. With her job done, the human retreated back to her position as PB stood carefully on Jake's shaking head.

With one well-placed blast from her device, the brain commanding its worm overloaded, blowing a fuse and immediately shutting down. The worm in Jake's grasp went limp, then promptly disintegrated into sand like the others. With that done, the gang moved on to the next one.

Their next target was quite a bit feistier than the previous, thrashing around wildly in Jake's coiled body. Luckily, Ice King and FP provided some extra support in containing the beast, allowing Susan and Peebles to do their part and disable the core. As the second worm blew apart into sandy smithereens, they moved on to tracking down the two remaining creatures.

It had become routine by this point, as the group worked in perfect sync to take down the final pair of earth-levelers. Once the kingdom was finally clear of rumbling and destruction, the gang proceeded to the walls surrounding the city, taking a moment to rest. As they gazed over the land, Jake frowned.

"Yeesh, you might need to change the name of the place, PB."

A good portion of the area was buried beneath the tons of material the worms had released, making the Candy Kingdom look like a sandbox for kids to play in. The pink monarch sighed.

"At least the citizens are safe; the gumball guardians should be able to help clean up and- wait a second, why didn't those two wake up and fight?"

All eyes gazed at the unmoving protectors of the kingdom, who sat silently blowing their bubbles. Before further questioning could begin, Marceline floated down to them, holding a techy object in her hand.

"I think _this _might give you an answer."

She handed the item to Bubblegum, who briefly studied it before crushing it in her hand and baring her teeth.

"Darn that Arc. She put the guardians in sleep mode with a jamming device."

Throwing the jammer away, Peebles absentmindedly scanned the horizon out in the grasslands, suddenly noticing a large glow.

"What the heck is that?"

Everyone turned to look at the strange light in the distance.

"Looks like a fire, a bonfire." Jake distinguished.

The magical dog stretched out and grew to his fifty foot form.

"Come on, we should check it out. It might be those humans."

Nodding, those who couldn't fly got onto the dog's back, as he stomped through the cotton candy forest to reach the verdant plains beyond. It only took a few minutes, thanks to his size, before Jake reached a fair distance to the massive blaze erupting from the land. PB and Susan got off of him and slowly approached the phenomenon along with FP, Marcy, and Ice King.

It was now notable that a group of person-shaped silhouettes were in front of the fire, seeming to be wearing cloaks with hoods. The gang took caution upon nearing the group, nervous that these beings might be hostile. However, as they came within measurable distance of the mysterious assembly, it was clearly seen that they were humanoids dressed in the cloaks.

The friends stopped, wary of the possibility that the beings were their worst nightmares. Sure enough, the shrouded figures noticed the arrivals, slowly turning to look at them. The Ooocian's narrowed their eyes as the identity of the group was revealed.

There stood the Arcs, calmly gazing upon the assembled companions as if they were no threat. PB stepped forward as she spotted Second Arc among them.

"You! How dare you copy my sand worm!"

The woman stepped forward as well, while her allies spread out a bit, revealing all five of them.

"It was a necessary distraction, as our goal is near completion."

As if beckoning to the lady's words, sunlight suddenly spilled out over the area, causing everyone to momentarily shield their eyes. Marceline yelped as the rays began to burn her. She quickly reached to the strap holding her ax bass and pulled out a sunhat, which had been stashed there as well.

Upon recovering from the shine, the gang was amazed to find that the clouds were departing at impossible speeds, clearing the sky of anything besides the pure blue of the heavens. Scanning the air further, they were shocked to see a distant object streaking across the sky.

"A comet?" PB asked with bewilderment.

Second Arc nodded.

"Indeed. It is our responsibility to bring that celestial force to earth, putting our plan in motion."

The gummy princess was stunned.

"You're insane! How could you possibly force an icy body to crash down to the planet?"

The human woman gestured to the towering bonfire behind her.

"With a ritual, of course."

The group gazed into the fires, confused as to what the Arc meant.

"Ritual?"

Second Arc reached into her cloak and pulled out a rolled piece of paper.

"Why do you think I stole your chart?"

Following those words, her form briefly flickered, shifting into the image of Peppermint Butler. PB glared at the woman as she shifted back to her true form.

"I should've known. No one else had access to my more secure labs and information."

She stepped forward again.

"Why did you need it?"

Second Arc pointed to the sun.

"To predict the next alignment."

The gathered friends all looked to where the Arc was pointing, stunned to see a massive dark disk beginning to cover up the star. Bubblegum swung back to stare down the human.

"A solar eclipse? Why?"

The human motioned to all her fellow Arcs.

"It is the most important part of the ritual; a circle that you cannot break."

She lowered her arms and hardened her facial expression.

"As you might guess, we would need **all **of us to complete it."

The inhabitants of Ooo were taken aback, wondering what she meant. PB was the first to figure it out.

"Six Arcs, but there are only five of you."

Second Arc nodded.

"Correct. Coming to your land was not only in preparation for this day, but also the continuing effort to find our final member."

She began causally strolling back and forth as she explained herself.

"We Arcs resonate with each other, it is how we were brought together in the first place. We searched the planet for months trying to find the last of us, but in vain. You see, our abilities manifest at maturity, the point where we can control and harness them. I came to the conclusion that the last had not revealed itself because of this lack in mental development."

She stopped walking.

"But now, we are finally as one."

Second Arc stepped aside, allowing the natives to see the space behind her. Astonishingly enough, a sixth hooded figure was unveiled. This being slowly walked forward, until it passed Second Arc and halted, signaling the others to gather up on either side. All was silent for a moment, as the Ooocians gazed in mixed fear and apprehension at the newcomer.

Eventually, Flame Princess had enough waiting and stepped forward, firing her strongest fire stream at the prominent figure among the Arcs. The being gave no attempt to dodge, simply allowing the blast to hit. FP stopped after a few seconds, waiting for the inferno to die down and show the result. As the combustion finally dissipated into the wind, everyone was shocked to see the sixth still standing, with virtually no damage at all done.

The sole object affected was its cloak, which progressively burned away into ash. The other Arcs proceeded to throw off their cloaks as well, revealing their full view and the enigmatic symbols on their chests. Meanwhile, their lead's shrouding attire vanished, disintegrated entirely.

The gang stared with wide eyes and open mouths, too shocked to even respond to what they saw. It took a minute, but Flame Princess was the first to regain partial composure and step forward.

"F-Finn?"

The human boy stood in significantly different clothing, namely a white jacket that incorporated his bear hat as its hood. The coat was unzipped, letting the ends flap slightly in the breeze. A grey shirt was present underneath, embroidered with a circle containing the symbol 'I'. His face was hard, set in a near blank expression that showed no emotion. he did however, slightly shake his head.

"No, not Finn."

He took one strong step towards the gang, who were still paralyzed with disbelief.

"I am First Arc."

* * *

A/N: Not gonna say much, don't want to ruin the feeling.

DJ Rodriguez: Hopefully this was informative, but not too revealing.

OMAC001: There's your answer.

I am The7: Haha, not quite.


	13. The Six Arcs, Champions of a Fallen Race

-The Six Arcs, Champions of a Fallen Race-

The brilliant comet sailed across the heavens, burning a bright red due to its friction with the atmosphere. Below the incredible cosmic force, two sides were in the process of encountering one another, with one being imbued with solid resolve, and the other in a state of utter shock.

Jake, Flame Princess, Susan, Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline all stared relentlessly at their human hero, who now stood at the head of their most dangerous adversaries to date, the Arcs. Finn gazed back with an unaffected expression, blankly observing the group while they were in disbelief. Jake finally reacted, stepping up next to FP.

"Finn...what the nuts are you talking about?!"

He pointed to the other humans.

"You couldn't possibly be one of them!"

The young man turned his head, motioning for Second Arc to come forward. She did so and Finn allowed her to take the floor.

"As I stated before, Arcs resonate with one another. Your friend's power lie dormant, due to his insistive immaturity. However, once we arrived here in Ooo, our link to him grew stronger, resulting in persistent dreams that plagued his mind to no end."

The woman placed a hand on Finn's shoulder.

"When I delved into his mind to find the explanation for these visions, I found his true identity, as the destined final Arc and leader of our team."

The gang was stunned by the explanation, still utterly dumbfounded by the development. PB managed to force in an argument.

"Leader? Finn may be a great hero, but you would be a more qualified candidate for that position."

Second Arc shook her head.

"A leader must be the the most endurant of their entire group. As Arcs, we are ranked based on how difficult it is to overcome our resistance."

She gestured to Finn.

"I could try for days, but would never find a way to successfully stop First Arc."

That sentence made Peebles cringe, remembering how pitiful her attempt to stop the woman had been. Meanwhile, FP continue to take steps closer to Finn, a pained look on her face.

"Finn...you can't be...you wouldn't."

The young man gazed at the fire elemental, then closed his eyes.

"It's as you see it. I have a duty to serve, one that was with me the moment I was born."

He pointed up to the comet.

"When that force strikes the earth, our part will be completed, and the cleansing will begin."

The inhabitants of Ooo gawked at the human.

"Cleansing? What are you talking about?" Marceline asked.

Second Arc took over the explanation.

"Our mission, imprinted as a memory at the point we receive our powers, is to allow that celestial force impact the planet, purifying it of any and all sources of radiation and infection."

She studied the passing moving body.

"As an unfortunate sacrifice, this continent will be wiped clean of its life force."

The gang gasped in horror, along with Third Arc, who stepped up to her ally.

"Duo, you, you never told me that part."

Second Arc nodded sadly.

"I know, Tres. I am sorry, but you would not have accepted such a result."

Third Arc frowned, staring at the ground.

"I...I understand."

She took in a breath.

"Responsibility, the responsibility our race holds in fixing our mistake, requires at some point, a sacrifice."

PB helplessly ran thoughts through her mind, remembered that it was her all along who had introduced that statement, that the safety of the many may demand the loss of the few. It reminded her of what she'd done to Flame Princess, and by extension, to Finn. She could tell the two were fated hearts, just by seeing how they looked at each other and they way their behaviors changed while interacting.

The candy monarch hung her head, believing her mentality was no different than that of the Arcs. Jake narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"How could you? How could you let Ooo get sucked dry of its life?"

Finn didn't shift his expression.

"In the aftermath of the cleansing, we will help rebuild all that was lost. No one will get hurt, so long as they don't interfere with the comet's agenda."

Marcy angrily floated forward.

"Do you six even know what this thing is? What it can do? Are you going to place all your trust into an icy rock that came out of nowhere?"

The Arcs glared back at her. Fifth stepped forward and replied.

"It saved our lives! We were all orphans, abandoned or lost with no where to go and no one else to turn to!"

She hung her head.

"I was separated from my family, all because of the barbarism that evolved from that war a thousand years ago!"

The Arcs all shared her expression, sadly gazed down. The Ooocians momentarily broke their accusative positions and listened. Sixth Arc looked at Susan.

"I lost my sister."

Fourth Arc set his solemn eyes on Marcy.

"I lost a dear friend."

Third Arc wiped away a tear, gazing at FP.

"I lost the young man I loved."

Second Arc held her sight on PB.

"I lost my team, the only family I ever knew."

First Arc stared at Jake, whose eyes were trembling.

"I lost my parents."

He looked upon the people of Ooo as a whole.

"When all was lost, the comet gave us a purpose, another chance, companions even.

The young man took one last step forward, ushering the rest of the Arcs to form up on him again.

"Will you still try to stop us?"

The gang reconstituted their emotions and came closer, taking offensive stances.

"Of course we will," Marceline replied.

The natives were still heartfelt by what their foes had said, but knew they had to put that aside to stop their plan. First Arc sighed.

"Then we have no choice. We have to disable you all until the ritual can be performed."

Flame Princess was the most affected of all the group, still gazing with hurt and disbelief at Finn, who appeared to have no response for her. The circle in the boy's shirt glowed blue, then released a matching toned ripple from the ground where he stood. The border of the expanding circle headed for FP, who still stood there, in an unknown amount of pain.

Just as the edge was about to touch the fiery girl, Jake jumped in front of her, accepting the contact with First Arc's circle and giving himself a momentary blue hue. Once this dissipated, the yellow dog pointed to the young man.

"I won't let you do this, Finn. You're a hero, and my brother. I'm dragging you back, and I'll do it with my bare hands."

The human didn't react much beyond a shrug.

"Suit yourself."

The two began to vanish, as HAVEN isolated them from the surrounding time and space. The last thing that First Arc did was give a solemn glance to FP, who had several lava tears running down her cheeks. The human frowned, then closed his eyes as well, letting out a single tear of his own.

"I'm sorry."

The fire elemental clutched to those two words, as the Arc and Jake left the current spacial plane, where they would duke it out on their own. The remaining five activated their circles as well, locking onto an opponent and beginning to slip out of the realm.

Just before vanishing, FP clutched the aluminum rose still in her dress.

_I won't give up, not on you._

* * *

(Jake vs. First Arc)

The two brothers eyed each other down, waiting patiently to see who would take the first move. The magical dog kept his hands freely by his sides, as if he were a gunslinger trying to outpace his opponent. The human before him had finally seemed to have gotten serious, taking a defensive stance.

They calmly began to circle one another, anticipating a strike at any moment. To fill in the time, Jake resumed his desperate plea for his dear sibling's understanding.

"Finn, can you honestly bring yourself to wipe out Ooo? All the trees, grass, fruits and other beautiful parts of the land, gone."

First Arc narrowed his eyes.

"Weren't you listening? It can be brought back, all it takes is time and dedication. And we would help in any way we can, using the powers granted to us."

Jake narrowed his eyes as well.

"Ooo would never take help from those humans. Can't you see that?"

He stretched his fists to the size of wrecking balls.

"You think you can just destroy something, then remake it and everything is ok? You're not that dumb, Finn!"

The dog shot a punch at his bro, who simply bashed it aside with ease. Jake yelped, stunned by how solid Finn's hand felt. He ignored it and sent another punch. This time, the human took it full in the face. However, instead of being thrown back and likely bleeding, Jake ended up the one being bruised.

"Yeouch! What the heck happened to you?"

As the magical canine waved his aching knuckles, First Arc began approaching him.

"Did you think it would be that easy? I have my true power now. And with that..."

He stopped, staring hard at the dog.

"I'm fully indestructible."

Jake's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped. First Arc ran at him, aiming a punch for the dog's gut. He stretched away just in time, then stretched himself fifty feet tall, forming his foot into an anvil and dropping it on the human. The Arc didn't react in the slightest, instead allowing his body to do the work and effortlessly deflect the heavy strike.

Jake yelped again and backed off, shrinking back down and re-orienting himself to his brother. As the human ran at him again, he rethought his strategy.

* * *

(PB vs. Second Arc)

Peebles make careful sure to stay far from the woman's reach as they analyzed each other's movements. She knew she couldn't be reckless like last time, and she had to be wary of anything Second Arc may have on her that was hidden. However, the candy monarch had her own surprise in store, if she could just catch her opponent in the right timing.

The human suddenly dashed at her gummy opposition, stunning the royal. PB quickly dodged as Second Arc attempted to strike her in another pressure point.

"I don't understand," she stated.

The woman sent her occasional glances as she continued to take shots at the pink lady.

"HAVEN may grant us a great amount of time to finish this, but I am rather hoping to put this whole ordeal behind us. Then, we can finally achieve peace."

PB scoffed.

"Peace? With what you're planning? I don't think so."

Peebles avoided another hit then decided to go for her own, seeing the opportunity. She swiftly clawed at Second Arc's cheek when the woman's defenses were down. The human briefly grunted as several scratches appeared on her flawless dark skin. she backed away, as Bubblegum hoped that her attack had done its job.

Second Arc wiped away a trickle of blood from the wound, looking with skepticism at the princess.

"That was your move?"

PB grinned.

"Remember what you told me; within your strike, hide a poison."

As if by reaction, a hissing sound began to expel itself from Second Arc's cuts. She felt the wound again, identifying what the royal had done. It was in fact, a _literal_ poison, hidden in the monarch's fingernails.

"That should be knocking you out momentarily," Peebles explained.

However, instead of becoming woozy, PB was shocked to see the Arc stand up straight and calmly begin walking towards her.

"Wh-what? How?"

Second Arc shook her head.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I am always two steps ahead of you."

She pulled up her sleeve, revealing a line of injection marks, making the princess's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Before coming here, I injected myself with every antipoison needed to counteract any of the toxins you happened to have around your castle."

she let her sleeve down.

"You cannot surprise me, Bonnibel."

The Arc charged again, intent on ending the quarrel as PB slipped into a hopeless mentality.

* * *

(Flame Princess vs. Third Arc)

Third Arc was repeatedly dodging the multiple blasts of fire FP was attempting to cook her with, looking sadly at the upset elemental. Mixed in with a look of pain and anger, the young king still had some stray tears falling down her face. It made the human feel even worse, knowing she'd not only been forced to lie to her, but also take away someone she cared for deeply. As another flame burst impacted the ground, Third Arc stopped her movements and simply stood there, head hung.

FP paid it no mind and fired another ball of combustion, which hit the human directly, causing her to cry out as her singed skin and clothes inflicted pain upon her. The Arc fell to the ground, appearing to be suffering quite a bit. Flame princess suddenly lost her rage, gazing at the fallen girl.

The human was beginning to cry, staring up at the sky, where the comet was frozen in HAVEN's time distortion. As the fire elemental walked up to her, Third Arc spoke.

"I know how it feels, trust me. To lose someone like that, not even like you, but completely. He's gone, and I'll never be in his arms again."

Her eyes leaked profusely by this point, making it nearly unbearable for FP to try striking her down as she lay helplessly on the ground. The fiery king had a blast ready in the palm of her hand, but found it impossible to launch the inferno at the human. Third Arc closed her eyes.

"Either I lose, or you do. It's that simple. Do what you must."

Flame Princess cut off the fire, catching the Arc's attention. Next thing the girl knew, the elemental was offering her hand to her. The human was stunned at first, but regardless, accepted the hand and was pulled to her feet. The two ladies stood there, until FP chose to speak.

"You can be compassionate, and still fight."

Third Arc gazed in wonder at the young ruler, amazed by her willingness to spar on equal terms. At long last, she reacted, nodding and wiping away her watery eyes.

"Very well."

* * *

(Ice King vs. Fourth Arc)

Unfortunately, Second Arc had provided the psych profiles of the Ooo gang to her fellow teammates, making it very easy for Fourth Arc to manipulate and subjugate the ice wizard he was squaring off against. The hapless old man was giggling as multiple illusions of his favorite princesses gradually beat the tar out of him.

"Ouch! Nice one, Muscle Princess."

"Agh! Good chokehold, Breakfast Princess."

"Oof! Well done on that punch to my guts, Wildberry Princess."

Fourth Arc was gazing pitifully at Ice King as he lay on the ground, completely oblivious to the human's sensory manipulation. Sighing and shaking his head, the man snapped his fingers, dissipating all the fake royals and finally getting the wizard to climb out of his giddy behavior.

"Huh? Hey, where'd they all go? Did you scare them away, you butt?"

he pointed angrily to the Arc, who looked at him with an expression that showed disappointment and annoyance.

"That's just sad."

IK rocked back and forth, still feeling the false effects of the beating.

"Wha...?"

Before the poor guy could continue, Fourth Arc gently poked his forehead, causing the icy wizard to fall backwards flat on the ground. He groaned, totally out of it. The human just rolled his eyes as HAVEN began to deactivate.

* * *

(Marceline vs. Fifth Arc)

The young girl carefully looked around her surroundings, trying to stay wary of the invisible vampire floating somewhere nearby. Suddenly, she felt a light breeze. With her lightning speed, she grabbed Marcy's unseen arm and flung her towards the ground. Dust erupted from virtually nowhere, but was soon given an origin as the vampire rematerialised, rubbing her head.

"Jeez. How the heck did you do that?"

Fifth Arc walked up to the radical dame.

"I run with the wind every day. I know how to read the movement of the currents. Your power won't do any good against me."

The bassist groaned at the unfortunate circumstances, but reached back to take her weapon regardless and prepare to defend herself. However, as experienced and strong as she was, Marcy couldn't help but undermine the young girl she was fighting. It wasn't arrogance, just a simple mistake in judgement that anyone could've made. That was Fifth Arc's greatest weapon of all.

It was this very error that cost Marceline the fight, as she was relentlessly slugged in every possible direction by a human moving at a speed equal to the tunes that came off her ax bass.

* * *

(Susan vs. Sixth Arc)

Brother and sister stood riddled with bruises, scrapes, and shaking limbs. Both stared hard into the other's eyes, panting and keeping their fists at face level. The Arc rushed ahead, planning to weaken his sibling some more, but Susan was ready for him. As strong as the man was, his younger kin had the advantage of agility, allowing her to swiftly jump over him and land behind, proceeding to grab him in a headlock.

Sixth Arc struggled to remove the woman's hold, but she was resistant, knowing full well the results if she didn't push through with the fight. Eventually, he managed to elbow Susan harshly in the ribs, forcing her to let go and allow him to get away from her. As the Arc backed off then faced his sister again, she had already recovered. They were back to staring each other down, even more exhausted than before.

"Susan...do we really have to fight? Can't you understand, if we do this, then we can finally be a family."

Sixth Arc's plea was sincere, his gentle tone was proof enough of that. However, the woman had learned much since being holed up underground, mostly from Finn. And even though the noble hero was currently with the enigmatic Arcs, she knew from him how a true hero acted.

"No. I learned how our people should be. We help everyone, we find way to save all. We don't take away homes just to give back later. That not a hero's heart, that a black heart!"

Her brother looked hurt by the declaration, hanging his head. Susan took the opportunity to rush forward and swing her fist towards the man's jaw. At the last moment, he shocked her, performed the same move. Susie stared in disbelief as both hits drew closer to their targets. In the split seconds before they hit, Sixth Arc displayed a single tear from his eyes, which bore into her stunned green ones.

"The comet saved you too, and I won't allow myself to not repay the favor."

Both siblings felt consciousness leave them as a great amount of pain struck their faces. They fell on their backs, and HAVEN began to shut down.

* * *

PB was unable to avoid all of Second Arc's movements. The woman snuck around and planted some sort of sticky device on her back, then swiftly jumped away. The princess desperately tried to get rid of it, but was too late as the object exploded, releasing a massive amount of tan substance that coated her whole body, greatly weakening her prowess and causing her to fall to the ground, basically cocooned.

"They say you can use peanut butter to get rid of gum, I figure it works the same for people made of the material."

Second Arc looked upon the groaning PB with a fair amount of regret, believing that the techniques she used to fight were dirty and cheap. Although, the human's specialty was intellect. There was no other option for her. As Peebles gave up against the sticky wrapping, HAVEN began to dissipate.

* * *

Flame Princess fought to stay awake as floral sleeping gas vented into her nostrils. The potent chemical Third Arc released came from flowery bracelets she wore on her wrists. It was her own special way of fighting nonviolently. The Arc watched sadly as her fire elemental adversary stumbled along the ground, trying desperately to stay on her feet. She happened to stumble across the spacially displaced Finn, frozen in time along with everyone else that wasn't involved with the battle.

Her eyes studied his hardened expression, reviving the hurt she'd felt earlier. New tears welled up in her amber orbs, dripping the resulting lava to the ground.

"Finn...I..."

She closed her eyes, then leaned forward, bringing her lips to his. However, as their faces met, FP's slid right through his, unaware that the human was no longer standing there across dimensional boundaries. it was the final motion, as she was unable to stop her fall from the act, collapsing from the gas at last.

Third Arc's own heart stung, watching the distressed girl as HAVEN subsided.

* * *

Jake crawled towards a nearby rock, using it to support him as he tried to stand up. His right leg was twisted, and not because of his stretchy powers. The dog panted heavily, trying to see through his swollen eyes and licking away the blood on his lips. Footsteps were heard from behind, signifying First Arc was approaching him.

The magical canine swung around his body, which caused him to fall on his buns, back propped up against the stone. His brother gazed with a sad expression upon the dog, wishing it didn't have to be like this. Not a word was said, only the silent communication that was shared between siblings. Jake looked up at the human, an unreadable shade in his eyes that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking of his turned brother.

Giving his greatest effort to not show conflict, First Arc gently reached over with his leg and nudged him gently, tipped the dog over and causing him to land on his side to the ground. While HAVEN returned them to their previous planar setting, the Arc turned away, not wanting to see anymore pain.

* * *

A/N: That one was tough to write.

invisible redhead: Thanks so much for being with it all this time. I think your name is literal, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the file to ever show it until I removed the period in the middle. Crazy technology...

OMAC001: Real soon now, as in next.

DJ Rodriguez: I hoped I'd get you guys. I was also wondering if anyone guessed Finn's involvement earlier.

I am The7: You'll find out next.

TheMentalAdventurer: Haha, funny.


	14. Completing the Circle

-Completing the Circle-

The gang all lay on the ground, feeling not only the pain of any injuries that may have been inflicted, but the pain of losing the fight for their home. Also, the hurt from losing their best friend to the one's who were now enemies.

The sky had grown into a bizarre color tone, due to the combination of the comet's brilliant illumination of red and orange, and the ever increasing darkness caused by the growing solar eclipse. Both events would likely be frightening the other inhabitants of Ooo, who may as well have believed it was the end of the world.

Everyone managed to recover most of their consciousness. Marceline helped pull away the sticky material encasing PB, while Susan crawled over to Jake as the dog lay with tears streaming down his face. Ice King rubbed his temple as he sat up with a groan, still feeling the imprinted 'pain' the princess illusions had dealt him.

Flame Princess was on her hands and knees, trying hard to overcome the mist Third Arc had exposed her to. It didn't seem to cause any visible harm, other than weakening her powers with its neurological vapor. Upon finally being able to raise her head, the young king immediately tried to look over to the Arcs.

Third and Fourth Arc were helping up Sixth, the latter placing her hand to his chest and emitting a strange glow. A moment later, the man's wounds disappeared, allowing him to support himself without the others' help. The six humans regrouped as the fallen Ooocians refocused enough to look back. They were all on the ground, weak and powerless to fight back any longer for the time being.

FP gazed into First Arc's eyes, as the boy looked back with the same sorrowful expression he'd given her earlier.

"Finn..." she croaked weakly.

The fire elemental struggled to reach into her dress and retrieve an item, as the Arc watched her. She revealed the aluminum rose, causing the human's eyes to widen briefly before staring at the ground, a look of shame on his features. Second Arc walked over and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, giving him a solemn look.

He nodded, with visible conflict, and glanced at Flame Princess again.

"I know it doesn't mean anything, but, I'm sorry."

The fiery girl was about to answer back, but was interrupted.

"You're darn right it doesn't!"

Susan was helping Jake move over to join FP, who was staring at the dog in shock. His face was still contorted with grief, but his voice was absolute and strong. First Arc shifted his sight to the yellow canine.

"Jake..."

The magical dog motioned for Susan to let him go, whereupon he formed a cane with his stretchy arm to walk with. his brother held up a hand.

"Don't. If you come any closer we'll-"

"You'll _what_?!" the dog challenged, now appearing angry.

First Arc stuttered for a moment, then lowered his hand and turned away. As he walked over to the bonfire, his fellow humans gathered around it as well. The six of them stood around it, evenly spaced out and gazing into the flames. The solar eclipse had entered its peak, consuming the land in an unnatural darkness, increasing the brightness of the flames.

Fourth Arc waved his hand all over, suddenly revealing several groups of materials piled around the area. The gang gasped, realizing they were all the items collected by the humans. Sixth Arc went over and grabbed several barrels of toxic waste, then walked to the fire and tossed them into the inferno, which sent out a mystical flash of green as a result.

"The scars under her skin."

Fifth Arc stepped forward and brought out the stolen lightning power from her coat, then tossed it into the fire as well, unleashing another green flash.

"The rage of her heavens."

Fourth Arc rapidly threw several pieces of raw metal into the blaze, releasing yet another reaction.

"The purity of her flesh."

Third Arc took out the container of core lava and threw it in as well.

"The heat of her blood."

Second Arc held her arms out and gazed up at the eclipse.

"The shadow upon her face."

The fire exploded outward, doubling its size as First Arc stepped forward and pulled out something from his pocket. While the Ooo gang had been in shock the whole time, FP was now focused on what the boy was holding. It turned out to be a crumpled up piece of paper.

He unfolded it and read it, a sad expression upon his face. Flame Princess knew what it was. The human stepped to the fire and held out the note, containing one of the poems he had written about the girl he still cared for. Another moment, and he let the wind carry it into the raging flames, setting off the final flash.

"The passion of her children."

FP wouldn't take her eyes off of the boy, even as the bonfire exploded further, forcing the Arcs to back off and allow the blaze to tower into the sky. Another moment, and the entire thing shot upwards, as if a beacon of red, signalling to some divine force. As it just so happened, the comet was the object the ever-climbing blaze hit. an invisible shockwave from the celestial visitor pushed away any remaining clouds, allowing it to dominate the darkened skyline.

The Arcs slowly stood back further, then turned away, leaving their backs to the inferno. They then spread out their arms and closed their eyes, causing their circles to light up and emit a strange aura from their bodies. Sixth Arc's purple aura shot forward into the distance, where it crashed down into the edge of the Moon's shadow, illuminating a portion of the colossal dark circle etched into the Earth.

Fifth and Fourth Arc did the same, unleashing their respective yellow and white auras, which lit up two more portions of the circle's boundaries, now emitting half of it. Third and Second Arc fired their green and orange energies, leaving but a single arc left to close the figure.

First Arc briefly looked over to his friends. They all gazed at him with sorrow and betrayal, especially Jake. However, amid the pained looks, none were more painful to the human himself than Flame Princess's. The fire elemental was on her feet, holding her hands together over her chest, letting out thin lines of lava from her eyes. The scene hurt First Arc more than anything, even more than the potential harm he was about to let loose on Ooo.

He shook his head.

_No. This is about vindicating humanity's mistakes, not worrying about relationships that can never happen._

With one last look at the devastated FP, First Arc turned back to facing away from the fire and a blue aura surrounded him. A moment later, he fired it at the horizon, where it fell onto the sole remaining unlit section of the ecliptic shadow, fully forming a unimaginably massive circle on the continent's surface. The figure suddenly projected itself into the sky, creating a massive hieroglyph of the shape in the heavens.

As the Arcs and everyone else watched the spectacle, Flame Princess came across the answer she'd been begging for this whole time. Second Arc had stated that their powers manifested upon maturing. Finn _had _matured, he had let her go, cutting himself away from love to pursue greater goals.

The problem was, she didn't want to do the same.

* * *

The comet brightened significantly as the titanic circle began rotating around it. Eventually, the figure was spinning at such a high rate that it began to shrink, slowly enveloping the cosmic object until it made contact, unleashing a second shockwave that nearly pushed everyone to the ground.

As visibility returned, a sight of the comet falling to Earth was in everyone's vision. The Ooo gang watched in absolute terror, while the Arcs all held hopeful eyes upon the plummeting rock. The ground began to rumble as the spherical entity descended further and further, remarkably reducing its speed as it went. When it finally drew near, all could feel the power it wielded.

The comet set itself down right atop the bonfire, extinguishing the combustive force and setting off a minor tremor in the process. The Arcs gazed in awe at their savior, whose icy and dusty shroud dissipated, revealing the glacial rock underneath. The gang however, was quite confused.

"That's it? That was...gentle," Jake stated.

The others agreed, and stared curiously at the Arcs, who also appeared minorly befuddled. The humans studied the mass, waiting for some reaction, but received little. Fourth Arc was about to complain to Second, before being cut off by a massive crack that appeared in the comet, startling everyone.

The crevice first widened, then formed new ones along the rock's surface. An eerie light leaked out of the openings, bewildering the spectators to whatever activity the object was going through. Soon enough, a strange mist wafted from the cracks, culminating at the top of the spherical mass and swirling together to solidify some object or other. The gases merged faster and faster, until all of the fog had been irradiated from the comet and was now gathering upon the highest point.

Finally, as the material finished its fusion, a humanoid form emerged, standing tall, with a scepter of sorts and long, elegant robes. Once the final features of the mysterious being revealed themselves, all were stunned. It was a man, of indeterminable age, with white hair and an expression of pure confidence upon his face. The robes he wore, as everyone now noticed, shifted colors from black to white, then back again.

There was little else, aside from occasional jewelry on his wrists and neck, but overall an average looking person. He had grey eyes, which gazed down upon the beings looking back at him. He stopped at the Arcs, letting out an odd smile.

"Why, thank you, my Arcs."

Everyone nearly gasped. Second Arc took a step towards the man, still standing atop the comet.

"You? You are the one who gave us our powers?"

The man chuckled and shook his head.

"No, my dear, I gave you **my **power."

This time, everyone _did _gasp. Princess Bubblegum took a step forward and pointed to the stranger.

"Who are you, and why were you in that comet?"

As the man's robes shifted to white, he grinned slyly at the candy monarch, then let out another laugh.

"Interesting story, miss. In fact, why don't you all 'take a seat'."

he raised his scepter, which had the figure of a crescent moon at its tip, and let loose a series of black electrical bolts, which homed in on the six Arcs and stunned them as they were grabbed by the force. They groaned in pain as the energy harmed them, before the being atop the comet swung his staff and threw the humans toward the others.

Jake reacted quickly, using his powers to stretch into a giant mattress, catching the lot of them. It hurt because of the bruises, but he paid it no mind and shrunk back down, while the rest helped the Arcs back to their feet. Second was shocked as PB aided her in standing upright.

"Why, why would you help us?"

The pink lady frowned.

"As much as I was against your plans, they were yours to follow by whatever beliefs you held. I can at the least give you that respect."

The human woman gazed softly into the princess's eyes, touched by the act.

"Thank you."

Peebles nodded, before the air was filled with quite the vile laughter. Everyone turned to see the man cackling atop his vessel, his robes shifting back to black.

"You foolish humans. You spent all this time thinking you were the knights and bishops who would rectify humanity's fouls, but in truth, you were mere pawns the whole time! Hahaha!"

The Arcs were struck hard, feeling a grave pit growing in their hearts as the man enjoyed their ignorance. The Ooocians gazed at the looks upon their faces, feeling the same emotion indirectly.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Third Arc asked with a breaking voice.

The man finally stopped his revelry and looked upon the assembled group with a sinister grin.

"I happen to be a the most powerful sorcerer in all of existence!"

He struck his staff into the ground, shooting out a cascade of energy that shot off into the sky. Several moments later, the darkest clouds anyone had ever seen materialized out of seemingly nowhere. The eclipse had just ended, but the Sun was given no mercy, immediately being recovered by the insidious shroud the magical being had just called upon.

"My name is Elodeus, the False Light."

His robes shifted back to white as he watched with glee at the reactions of his audience. The Arcs were further shocked, now even shaking slightly as they struggled to accept such a thing. The wizard went on as he enjoyed their loss of words.

"Two thousand years ago, I was defeated by a human wizard, who sealed away my chaotic and darkening powers into a passing comet. I was trapped, unable to unleash despair and death upon the Earth. Every fifty years, the orbit of that damned icy rock would bring me closer to the planet, where I would curse it with all the hatred I possessed. My rage grew so strong that what remnants of my power that had remained unchained were imbedded in the cosmic rays that struck the atmosphere on a daily basis.

However, with the added might of my magics, the force penetrated through the Earth's shield, irradiating my powers to multiple lineages of the race I wished to crush; humanity. Over the years, these families died off, bringing the species closer and closer to destruction, as the darkness in their hearts was magnified. All of this culminated a millennium ago, when an all-out war crippled the humans, forcing them into social exile with one another.

At long last, only six ancestries kept my dormant power, which was eventually inherited by the children of those who wandered the planet as nomads, hoping to rebuild the world. These offspring were prodigies in their own right, drawing power from humanity's greatest traits: strength, speed, deception, compassion, intellect, and endurance."

Elodeus pointed to the Arcs with his staff.

"I watched your lives from the beginning, far away in the cold void of space. My presence protected and shielded you from the harsh solitude of humanity's endangerment. And each time I connected to your minds, I sent as much influence as I could, in the form of ominous dreams and memories that seemed out of place."

The humans could not appear any more destroyed by this point. Their entire world was crashing down on them as the sorcerer continued.

"Once you reached maturity, my power allowed you full access, boosting your already impressive abilities to superhuman levels. I was able to implant my orders into your minds, instructions for how to free me from this wretched prison."

He stomped angrily on the comet beneath him. Then, he warmly opened his arms out to them, grinning sinisterly once again.

"So you see, my dear Arcs, it was all a lie. On one hand, however, this continent will be spared its life energy."

He smiled wider at the Ooocians.

"On the other, the Earth will never see the light of its star ever again!"

As the evil being's laughter echoed over the plains once more, the gang below watched the Arcs' reactions. There wasn't much. Each one of them was speechless, mouths hanging open and tears streaming down. Susan tried comforting Sixth.

"Brother, not your fault."

The man sobbed lightly as he hung his head.

"Look at what we did. Look at what he made us do."

Susan embraced the suffering sibling. Meanwhile, Fifth and Fourth Arc were being comforted by Marcy and Ice King, with absolutely no luck. The two humans refused to allow the Ooocians to relieve them in any way. It was their fault.

Second Arc was the same, holding up a hand as PB attempted to speak. The woman covered her eyes with her hand, wondering how she could've been so stupid. With that, Peebles placed her attention to Finn, who was already being counseled by Jake and Flame princess. The boy was trying hard not to cry as his brother held a hand on him.

"Jake, I hurt you, a lot."

The magical dog squeezed his best friend's shoulder.

"It's ok, Finn. You owed that thing your life. It makes sense that you'd want to repay it; I just didn't think that was the best way to do it."

The human looked up at the fiery girl beside him.

"FP..."

The fire elemental threw herself at him, startling the hero enough to briefly pull him out of his dire mood. She had apparently realized his power extended to not getting burned.

"Please...don't ever make me see you like that again."

The boy gently placed his arms on her back as she continued to embrace him.

"I...I don't know if I can."

Before Flame Princess could reply to the answer, Elodeus interrupted the group with a snicker.

"You have no idea how right you are, First Arc."

Everyone turned to look at the sorcerer, who had finally jumped down from his perch and approached the group.

"You're probably thinking I want my power back, right?"

He received no response, and so went on.

"Well, to be honest, you can keep them!"

This made the humans shocked. However, Elodeus grinned maliciously.

"Your free wills, on the other hand, I'll be taking."

He aimed his staff at the Arcs, releasing six bolts of black energy, which struck them in the back and caused them to cry out in pain. All their circles, along with their symbols, lit up, then suddenly shifted all their colors to a blood red. They struggled, as if fighting something. Finn swung around to Third Arc as he tried to resist the sorcerer's power.

"Tres!"

The girl nodded, with difficulty, and held her hand out to the Ooocians. A green glow engulfed them, slowly restoring their health and energy. As everyone got to their feet, they quickly helped support the fidgeting humans. Second Arc reached into her coat and pulled out a data chip, forcing it into PB's hand as the monarch held her up.

"What is this?" she asked.

The dark haired woman looked her in the eyes, as hers were turning red.

"You must...destroy...HAVEN."

Bubblegum's eyes widened as she shoved the chip in her pocket. Meanwhile, Finn was losing control as Flame Princess cupped his cheeks in her hands.

"Finn, hold on! Don't give in!"

The hero opened his pained eyes and set them on the girl. He reached up with a shaking hand and placed it on her cheek.

"FP...I...I was never brave enough...to say it to your face...I...AGH!"

He was pulled back by an increased blast from Elodeus' staff. The cruel sorcerer wagged a finger.

"Uh, uh, uh, no emotional exits, please."

The six Arcs shoved everyone away from them, their last plea being for everyone to get away from them. Flame Princess gripped Finn's hand as if it were her life on the line. No matter what effort the human gave, she wouldn't budge. Finally, he came up with the only thing left. He leaned in an kissed her on the cheek. The fiery girl was stunned enough to loosen her grip, allowing Finn to push her away.

Jake quickly grabbed her, then placed them both on Marcy, who had transformed into her giant bat form. Susan came on as well, as Ice King floated up into the sky. After PB also joined in, Marceline lifted off the ground, with difficulty, and fled towards the direction of the Candy Kingdom.

The Arcs stopped their resisting and stood still, awaiting Elodeus' orders.

"Find them, and end them."

The superpowered humans nodded, without a word, then proceeded to follow the escaping figures in the sky.

* * *

A/N: Work seriously bogged me down, sorry about the wait.

DJ Rodriguez: Gotta keep the dramatic moments going.

TheMentalAdventurer: Your feeling was well put.

Fiery Crusader: ...too late.

I am The7: We'll get to that soon enough.


	15. Hedron Hunt

-Hedron Hunt-

On the upside, Marceline no longer had to worry about being burned; ever again, for that matter. Although, she'd prefer to not have the planet fall into permanent darkness, and so put great effort into hauling her flightless friends toward the Candy Kingdom. Ice King and Flame Princess were in the air, keeping a close eye on the ground.

Fifth Arc was the only person fast enough to keep up with them, and performed her function as the humans' scout like she always did. Ice King tried conjuring a hailstorm to slow the girl down, but found that any weather altering magic was negated by the dark clouds Elodeus had summoned to blindfold the Earth.

On Marcy's back, Peebles slid the chip Second Arc had given her into the slot of a pink hologram pendant. After a few seconds, the device drew up the contents of the data, which projected a map of Ooo, with multiple flashing red dots. PB studied the image carefully, scanning several information blocks and a couple schematics.

Jake leaned over to see the pink images himself, but was utterly lost to their purpose.

"Ok, I give. What does it show?"

Bubblegum expanded one of the images, displaying a three-dimensional, diamond-like object.

"The locations of HAVEN's control nodes."

The magical dog and others all looked to the pink princess.

"Seriously? So we can smash that time-space doohickey?"

PB nodded.

"Right. Once we disable HAVEN, we can freely use the environment and each other to fight the Arcs, without being isolated."

The gang frowned, struck by the recent memories of the humans losing their self-control to the power of a vile wizard. Flame Princess was constantly looking back at the horizon they had left behind, to the boy she had left behind. There was only one thing left of Finn that she could hold; the artificial flower he'd crafted her.

It never burned, it never wilted, it never needed water or food. It was more than a pretty sight, it was a symbol. The boy was growing up, becoming more deep and emotionally sound. He had accepted the fact that they couldn't be together, what with all the duties FP had to the Fire Kingdom.

And yet, she couldn't deny. She missed him.

Gazing in the direction of where the corrupted hero and his fellow Arcs were sure to be following, Flame Princess sighed sadly, wishing it could all just end, so that she could walk up to Finn and give him a truly heartened embrace.

_If you're really growing up, then why can't you grow up with me?_

Marcy made it to the borders of the Candy Kingdom, still leveled with tons of sand from the earlier fighting. The gumball guardians, now awakened from their suspension, were doing their best to clean up the mess, first pouring water on some of the sand, then making large sand snowballs which they proceeded to hurl into the distance.

The citizens had all evacuated, taking cover in the upper floors of PB's secret royal dungeon, since it was largely secure and adequate for safety. Aside from that, the place was abandoned, as if it were a ruin being dug out of the ground. Marceline landed on the walls protecting the city, allowing Susan, PB, and Jake to get off. The candy monarch studied her data for a few more seconds, then pointed to the massive tree sprouting from her castle.

"One of HAVEN's hedrons is in the top of the tree."

She turned to her vampire companion.

"Marcy, can you get me up there?"

The raven-haired girl nodded and took the princess's hand, floating up towards the tower. However, she stopped her and had Marceline turn back to the others.

"Here."

PB tossed the pendant to Jake, who caught it in a baseball mitt-shaped hand.

"Go find the other three hedrons. We'll take care of this one."

The magical dog nodded, then faced away from the kingdom and stretched himself fifty feet tall. Susan hopped on, as FP and Ice King flew along from behind. Peebles motioned for Marceline to continue towards the tower, as she watched the others shrink in the distance.

"You're trying to separate the Arcs, aren't you?" Marcy asked.

The princess nodded.

"The less we have to deal with at once, the better."

Marceline agreed, now within range of the tree. She swung PB and gave her a boost to land within the core of the old wood, while the vampire floated outside watching her back. The pink lady scanned the interior, widening her eyes as she spotted the large hedron, stuck into the glob of amber that once held back the mighty Lich.

"Gotcha."

She turned to her companion.

"Marcy, could you help me smash this thing?"

The vampire grinned.

"I thought you'd never ask."

She flew in and pulled out her ax bass, amusedly eyeing the hedron as she raised the weapon over her head. With an added battle cry for effect, she slammed her crimson blade down on the object, immediately denting and placing a large gash into its surface. The circuitry inside crackled, disrupted by the hit. In fact, the entire environment seemed to momentarily blur as the server operating that portion of HAVEN struggled to stay online.

Marcy wouldn't let up, hacking at the geometric processor as if she were a lumberjack taking down a huge tree. At last, the hedron began whirring, spitting out sparks and destabilizing. The vampire grabbed Bubblegum and shot them both out of the tree's opening.

"Timber," she smirked.

A detonation came next, freeing the area of the augmented battlefield. The sky briefly let out a white pulse, signifying the dying HAVEN. Peebles smiled.

"Excellent. That just released about a quarter of the land. Once we take care of the others, we'll be good."

Marcy nodded, setting them both down on one of the castle's outer rims. They stared up at the site of the blast. Luckily, the tree was intact, and not on fire. The amber had likely soaked up any debris and the majority of the force. Satisfied, the two ladies looked out onto the kingdom. The gumball guardians had stopped their cleanup, gazing in confusion at the dust cloud enveloping the tree top.

"It's ok, boys, just keep working," Peebles announced.

The two towering robots acknowledged and returned to their task, but only for a few moments, as their sensors suddenly went off and they faced the castle once more.

"Threat detected!"

PB and Marcy spun around, instantly shocked to see Second Arc standing right behind them. The two ladies gasped and jumped back, placing a safer distance from the human.

"What the!? How did you-"

The Arc pulled out a circular device and tossed it to the floor in front of PB, who examined it for a moment before widening her eyes in shock.

"A portable teleporter?"

Second Arc nodded, then took hold of her lab coat and slid it off her shoulders, revealing a second coat underneath, layered in what seemed to be circuitry that fed up to her neck, where the Ooocian ladies saw implants connected to her spinal cord. The natives were stunned.

"Wh-what are those for?" Peebles staggered.

The Arc held out her hands, allowing two strange triangular objects to slid out of her sleeves and onto her palms. These instantly sprouted coils, which secured them to the woman's hands then suddenly powered up, glowing a faint orange. Bubblegum now understood.

"She's wearing a neurological biosuit."

Marceline frowned.

"Uh...what?"

PB motioned for her friend to back up as Second Arc began to step forward.

"It's an energy suit that draws power from your brain's electrical signals."

Her vampire friend nervously gazed at the approaching human.

"So basically, the more active a person's mind, the stronger it makes them?"

Peebles nodded.

"Exactly."

The monarch then thought of something.

"Oh no. If only Second Arc followed us, than the rest went after the others!"

She swung her eyes to Marceline.

"Go, I'll deal with her."

The vampire was stunned.

"Bonnie, are you crazy!? She's too powerful to handle by yourself!"

Bubblegum gestured to the two gumball guardians, who were now standing behind them, awaiting the chance to remove the human intruder.

"I won't be alone. Now go, they'll need you."

Marcy's concern was painfully evident, but she sighed and gave the princess a quick hug.

"Be careful."

"I will."

The musical vampire flew off in the direction that Jake was last seen walking, hoping to catch up before the remaining Arcs could cause any complications. Meanwhile, now flanked by her guardians, PB faced Second Arc, who had halted her movement and was fluctuated energy through her biosuit, waiting for the moment to strike. The princess didn't give her a cold stare, but rather one of both determination and concern.

"Duo, I promise you, I'll get that wizard out of your head."

The data had also provided her with the names the Arcs used for each other.

Her opponent gave no smirk or sign of amusement at the utterance, which was understandable considering how collected the woman usually was. The human just stared back at the gummy ruler with a fairly blank look.

"I highly doubt that."

* * *

Jake bounded across the grasslands, heading towards the cliffside prairie where the marauder village had once stood. The Mountain Man's head was coming into view, before the magical dog suddenly felt something trip him up. Stumbling, he was dug into the ground with a painful yelp, while Susan jumped off and stuck the landing. Ice King and Flame Princess remained in the sky, scanning around to discover what had interrupted their journey.

A blur was circling the fallen Jake, whizzing around at high speeds and slowly closing in. As the figure drew closer, the magical dog was surrounded by a wall of flames, courtesy of Flame princess. Instantly, the blur halted, unable to pierce the protective circle of combustion. It was now that the gang saw the anomaly's true identity: Fifth Arc.

She stood with a blank look, her now red eyes trained on the four beings behind the fire. The red circle on her chest burned brightly, releasing a dark aura around the girl. From the safety of the flames, the quartet contemplated a plan.

"What do we do now?" Ice King began.

Jake groaned as he thought up an answer. Right now, they were stuck, unable to continue with the Arc standing in their way. However, a new voice joined the fray.

"Let _me_ deal with her."

All heads turned to the direction of the Candy Kingdom, where the definite form of Marceline was streaking towards them at high speed. The vampire took a glance at Fifth Arc as she passed, receiving the same blank look from the human. She hovered next to Jake's head, as the three gave her a rather worried expression in reply.

"Where's Prubs?" the canine asked in concern.

Marcy kept her serious face as she responded.

"She's dealing with Second Arc, the others all came after you guys so she asked me to follow."

The four were shocked.

"What! That's nuts! Facing that brainy gal herself," IK blabbered.

Marceline shook her head.

"It's alright, she's got the gumball guardians supporting her. I'm sure Bonnie will do just fine."

The others looked slightly relieved, but still held a touch of concern, knowing how clever and perceptive Second Arc could be. Marceline floated closer to Jake's face, with determined features in her expression.

"Now go, find the other hedrons and bash them good. I'll hold off Fifth Arc."

Regretfully, the others agreed and got into position to continue. Flame Princess cancelled her flames, allowing the human patiently waiting behind them to suddenly charge at the group. Luckily, Marceline prevented this, blocking the Arc with her bass. The human's fist didn't manage to damage the instrument, but it did force the vampire back several feet in the air.

"Ngh, still tough, even with the brainwash."

Fifth Arc made no reply, other than to take a combat stance as the floating girl shook off the hit. He ax bass held in two hands, Marcy stared at her opponent as Jake fled with Susan on his back and Ice King and FP above.

"I don't hold anything against you, V. I know what it was like for humanity back during the war. I won't let your lives be played out in vain. We'll stop Elodeus, and free all of you."

The Arc just narrowed her eyes.

"Your power can't come close to his."

Marceline raise her bass.

"We'll see."

The two girls charged at each other head-on, determined to settle the score from their earlier engagement.

* * *

Howls of pain were what entered the ears of the Ooocians as they came upon the cliffside field that once hosted the marauders village. However, it also had a different meaning, especially to Flame Princess.

The fire elemental landed on the ground, standing solemnly as she gazed upon a large pile of ashes in the center of the area. The sight brought back sweet memories. Her first real home; a place she could call her own, and where she was free to come and go as she pleased. And it was Finn, the first person to truly care about her, who had bestowed the lovely abode upon her.

Now it lay abandoned, completely unrecognizable. FP felt a single tear slide down her cheek, then drip to the ground, sizzling the several blades of grass that it touched. This place was a shrine of sorts, representing everything the human had given her. While Jake and the others stretched up to the Mountain Man's face, she remained, pondering the past few years.

Jake used his powers to bring Susan to eye-level with the towering rock being, whose face was scrunched up in pain. It was he who was howling every few moments. He finally noticed his visitors after a minute, halting his wails as best he could.

"Jake! What are you doing here?"

The magical dog scratched his head.

"Um, well, this thingy is saying there's a diamond-shaped computer in your mouth."

He pointed to the pink pendant, while Mountain Man threw his eyes wide open.

"Really!? That would explain everything!"

Ice King raised an eyebrow.

"How come?"

The rocky man frowned.

"A few weeks ago, I woke up to a painful toothache, and ever since, I haven't been able to do anything about it. The pain is unbearable."

He howled again, displaying his open mouth. Jake quickly stretched down and looked inside, using his sharp canine vision to spot the hedron wedged in between his molars. He grinned, then looked up to Ice King.

"Yo, IK, can you numb his gums for me?"

The wizard nodded and aimed his icy powers at the mountain's exposed teeth, striking the spot containing the hedron and causing the Mountain Man to instantly stop his cries. He was stunned at first, then smiled.

"Oooooh! That feels so much better!"

While the poor fella was enjoying the relief, Jake stretched his hand into a pair of tweezers and stuck them into the rocky mouth. With some careful poking around, he managed to grab the technological object and gave it a few yanks. Eventually, the node broke free of the mountain's pearly whites and Jake pulled it out, holding the hedron in his morphed appendage.

"Got it!" he signalled to Ice King.

The wizard nodded and snapped his fingers, instantly shattering the ice encasing the gums. Even with it gone though, MM was still feeling much better.

"Ah! Thank you so much, friends."

He yawned.

"Now I might be able to get some decent sleep..."

The rock being instantly nodded off, letting out a low snore as his facial features nearly disappeared from the lack of activity. Jake shushed his friends, then motioned for them to return to the ground. Once back on solid earth, the magical dog grinned to his human companion and casually tossed the hedron up and down.

"Hey, Susan, bat 'er up!"

He chucked the object at her, upon which the woman promptly sent a fist at the device, smashing it to pieces in midair and sending debris everywhere. The group cheered at the server's destruction, as a brief flash echoed throughout the skyline, indicating HAVEN's further weakening strength.

As the celebrating died down, Jake noticed Flame Princess, kneeling down beside an irregular patch of the ground. Concerned, he slowly walked over to the young king and lowered himself beside her.

"FP, are you ok?"

The fire elemental didn't respond right away, but eventually sighed sadly.

"This was it. The spot where it was proven we couldn't be together any further than hugging, and even then, there was the flame issue."

She patted the uneven mound. The impressive pit her instability had caused, all that time ago, had been covered long ago, barely visible with the new grass that had grown upon it, but the dirt remained different. Jake frowned.

"Yeah..."

He looked to the spot as well.

"I sometimes wonder, was it my best idea to do what I did and search out a lady for my bro?"

FP stared rather hurt at the dog, seeing as her own life would've been much different without the canine's interference. However, he wasn't done.

"You know what Finn always said in response to that?"

There was a small grin in his lips, drawing the fire elemental's attention further.

"He would take me by the shoulders, look me straight in the eyes, and say with total seriousness: 'Jake, my heartbreak is worth the lives of all the fire elementals now happy in the Fire Kingdom, including Flame Princess.' Those words, every time."

FP sat there on her knees, thinking over the dog's explanation. Jake went on.

"He...he loves you, you know. He's just too shy to say it to your face."

The young king gazed back at the ground.

"I...I don't know what to think."

Jake did his best not to wince as he gently placed a paw on the girl's shoulder.

"Do you still have any feelings for my brother?"

Flame Princess furrowed her brow, having been thinking the very same thing.

"My kingdom, it comes first. But, honestly, how could I ever forget what Finn gave me? A home, a life, a new view of the world..."

She pulled out her flower and slowly rubbed one of its petals.

"...a friend."

She stood up, setting her eyes back to the ash pile.

"Yes. I still do."

Jake was admittedly a bit surprised she gave in.

"Regardless of everything else, the letter, the fights, the lies, he never gave up on me, ever."

The fire elemental stepped closer to the remnants of her old home and knelt down again, sticking the stem of her flower into one of the piles of powdery cinders. Getting back to her feet, she backed away and examined the silvery shine of the aluminum among the black.

"Hope grows out of despair. I learned that, thanks to him."

Jake was silent, amazed at the king's revelations. The sole interruption came from an unlikely source.

"No matter how much you hope however, he is an Arc, and he always will be."

The four all had their attention caught by the new voice, turning to see a verdant girl standing not too far away, holding the same expression that Fifth Arc had. Jake, Ice King, and Susan backed away, as FP remained where she was, unafraid. Third Arc stopped her advance, a fair distance from the fire elemental.

Flame Princess had no evidence of anger or distaste on her features, only concern and hope, eyeing the human before her carefully.

"Tres, we share a feeling, you and I. I wish I could help you reunite with the one you love. But now, I'm going to do whatever is necessary to get back mine."

The brown haired girl tilted her head slightly.

"Yours?"

FP nodded, determinedly.

"That's right. I love Finn the Human, the silly boy who offered his hand to a fire."

Her hands ignited.

"No matter his faults, his heart is in the right place. And for that, I can't ever repay him."

Third Arc readied herself for a fight, while FP nodded to the others to continue on without her. They reluctantly did so, dashing away in a hurry to track down the last two hedrons. The two girls locked eyes, neither rival nor enemy. The princess was fighting the human's body and powers, puppets of Elodeus, as the Arc's mind was suffering the pain of forcibly attempting to harm a being of pure passion.

"I'm getting you out, Tres, I promise."

* * *

A/N: Again, work, but at least only one day off this time.

Fiery Crusader: Haha, I was hoping for some good reactions.

DJ Rodriguez: All that and more, coming up.

TheMentalAdventurer: Interesting thoughts, I think I had a few of the same.

I am The7: Yep, total back-stab.


	16. Reaching the Heart

-Reaching the Heart-

The gumball guardians wasted no time in firing a burst of flames from their mouths, aiming for the Arc down below. Princess Bubblegum shouted for them to stop, worried about injuring the woman too much. However, the fires striking Second Arc were harmless, bouncing off of a protective barrier her suit had created using the generators in her palms. She blasted the combustion right back at the guardians, who shielded their eyes and took a massive step back from the recoil.

The human took the opportunity to send a mental burst of energy at the two robots, amplified greatly by her implants. The orange shockwave knocked the twin giants back further, nearly causing them to stumble over some destroyed buildings beneath their feet. Unfortunately, Second Arc didn't stop there.

Holding out her hands, the woman unleashed a magnetic pulse from her generators, which struck the guardians and took hold of their metal bodies. The human then swung her arms inward, causing the two robots to smash into each other. Heavily disoriented, the twins wobbled around a bit, then fell to the ground, setting off a quake that shook the castle.

PB cursed under her breath, astounded as to the power her opponent wielded using just the might of her brain.

_Brain…_

The princess was struck with an epiphany, immediately bolting away as Second Arc ran after her. She cupped her hands around her mouth as the chase was on.

"SCREEEEE!"

A moment later, the ever loyal Morrow emerged from the other side of the castle, diving down to swipe Peebles off the rim of the building. Second Arc sent multiple electrical blasts at the bird, but fortunately didn't have aim to match her intelligence. Baring her teeth, the human followed the Morrow as it swiftly circled the Candy Kingdom's innermost sector, as if searching for something.

The Arc held her hand out to a nearby tower, eventually ripping it out of the ground with a strange telekinetic power. She then proceeded to throw the massive object at the bird, who quickly dodged and readjusted its course. PB was struggling to hold on, as Second Arc tore off and threw even more pieces of her palace at her ride.

Scanning the area frantically, the candy monarch finally found what she'd been looking for, ordering Morrow to dive towards the castle's lower levels. The human followed her with her eyes, aiming a chunk of wall them. She threw the mass with impressive accuracy, apparently having corrected for her previous errors in targeting. Upon seeing the flung material heading for them, PB's eyes widened.

"Morrow, flee!"

The bird screeched, but followed the command and dropped its hold on the princess, allowing both of them to avoid the sailing wall component. Bubblegum yanked a cord on her back, instantly deploying a miniature parachute she always kept hidden on her back; just in case Ice King dropped her in midair while attempting another kidnapping.

She slowly drifted down towards her target, landing on the awkwardly bent tower with a soft thud. Her parachute retracted, folding back up automatically. A moment later, a humming was heard nearby. Peebles looked up, seeing Second Arc drifted down as well, using her suit to telekinetically float herself lower. Upon setting foot on the tower, she analyzed the princess.

"Quite clever, a hidden chute. Perhaps I did not give you enough credit."

PB shook her head.

"No. I've known this whole time you're a great deal smarter than I."

She closed her eyes and hung her head.

"And so…I knew the only way to stop you…"

She looked back at the Arc.

"…was by desperate measures."

The human examined the building on which they were standing. It was only now that she really paid any mind to the surroundings. Bubblegum was standing between two large quadruped beings, both still and staring at one another without a single movement. Each had a glowing third eye, which stuck out of their foreheads. Second Arc scoffed.

"Desperate? I can hardly say I'm intimidated by practical statues."

PB reached into her dress and pulled out a small rectangular device, which she held above her head and placed her thumb over the button. Second Arc studied the object briefly, before her eyes flew wide and she stared at the princess in shock.

"You are mad!"

The candy monarch held her resolute expression.

"There's an old saying; genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."

She pressed the button, immediately emitting a painful screeching sound from the device, which forced her and Second Arc to cover their ears as best they could. In addition, as the hypersonic sound waves reached the two candy sphinxes nearby, both creatures were pulled out of their mental stalemate and recoiled, slumping to the ground and shaking their heads.

The pink being shook her head, groaning.

"Ah! What's going on?"

The white sphinx recovered as well, squawking as it spotted the freed Goliad. The pink sphinx panicked briefly, before getting up along with her brother as both prepared their psychic eyes for confrontation. However, PB ran in between them, holding out her hands to halt the siblings.

"Stop! Both of you!"

Stormo obeyed, backing away a little. However, Goliad just narrowed her eyes at the princess.

"Why should I? I'm much stronger than-"

Peebles scowled at the sphinx.

"Listen!"

She pointed to Second Arc, who was still in shock at what the monarch had done.

"None of us will be doing anything unless _she _is stopped."

Both sphinxes looked over to the human, who bared her teeth at the large creatures. Goliad scoffed and activated her eye, attempting to lift Second Arc up and toss her away. However, the woman countered by firing a mental burst at the sphinx, disorienting her.

"Ow! That hurt!"

Now quite angry, Goliad growled and increased the power of her eye, firing a psi blast at the human, who frantically countered with another barrier. However, this time, the shield seemed strained, cracking in several places. Out of nowhere, a second psi blast impacted the barrier, shattering it and throwing Second Arc into the tower behind her. She groaned, struggling to get up.

Goliad looked over, seeing Stormo beside her. The white candy sphinx nodded, having been the one to assist earlier. Sadly, his sister just glared at him.

"This changes nothing."

The righteous sphinx squawked again, before suddenly being pummeled with the tower that used to be attached to their current surface. Goliad actually cried out in concern, as the heroic being slid to a halt, grunting from the slight injuries. His sibling angrily turned to Second Arc, who was refocusing her power to blast the two sphinxes while they were separated.

Instead, the human dealt with a multitude of flying candy canes from down below, which telekinetically homed in on her like a hungry school of fish. She redirected the energy building around her, vaporizing the candy material. As she was distracted however, Goliad pounced on her, sending both of them tumbling over the edge.

"Squawk!"

Stormo jumped after them, while PB called back Morrow so that she could pursue as well. The white sphinx eyed his sister as she struggled against the flurry of psychically enhanced punches Second Arc was giving her. She shouted out at each hit to her face, unable to focus long enough to fight back. Stormo narrowed his eyes, folding in his legs in to increase his speed.

Soon enough, the heroic creature passed the two combatants, catching the human in his beak as he did so. The woman was stunned by the act, unable to resist since Stormo was biting down on one of the generators in her palm. The courageous sphinx held the Arc against his body with all four legs, intent on forcing them both to painfully impact the ground.

Before Goliad could fall much further, a pair of legs grabbed the fur on her back, halting her descent. Looking up in bewilderment, she spotted Morrow, with Bubblegum on her back.

"Gotcha," the princess exclaimed.

However, Goliad returned her gaze to the plummeting opponents.

"Brother!"

A heavy crash erupted a few moments later, resulting in a giant candy dust cloud that obscured the area. PB ordered her bird to drop her and the pink sphinx off near the site, running panicky to the source of the impact. The sweet dust began to settle, revealing the result of Stormo's action.

A significant crater was pressed into the earth, with a wobbling and weakened white sphinx slowly stepping out of its wake. The being's golden hair was ruined by the dirt, covered in candy chunks. Peebles ran to him as Stormo collapsed, out of breath.

"Oh no! Are you alright, Stromo?"

The princess gently touched the sphinx's face, upon which he let out a pained squawk and laid his partially shut eyes on the princess. The moment was sadly interrupted as another sound emanated from the crater, this one being a groan. Looking to the impression with disbelief, PB and Stormo watched Second Arc pull herself to her feet, appearing, for the most part, heavily injured.

Looking closer, the candy monarch noticed mechanical components falling out of her sleeves and pant legs, as well as her shirt. These components were damaged to the point of scrap metal, occasionally letting out a dying spark. The human seemed barely able to support herself. Bubblegum was astonished.

"You-you had an exoskeleton underneath?"

The woman stopped her movement and eyed the princess with a glare.

"I am always prepared, Bonnibel. Don't insult my intellect."

She was panting, but managed to stand up straight and gaze at the two candy beings.

"I have read your reports. The sphinxes may be powerful, but the other's mind is too corrupted. Seeing all of us weakened and helpless, she will undoubtedly attack all three and take her place as ruler of this kingdom."

Her tone was almost mocking, discerning PB further as the Arc raised her hand, attempting to fire another psychic blast. Peebles braced herself, as did Stormo, knowing this would hurt. However, while what came next was a shout of pain, it was not from either of them. Opening her eyes, Bubblegum was shocked to see Second Arc pushed back a fair distance.

"Stay away from them!"

Goliad pounced in front of her injured brother and creator, protecting the two from any further attacks by the human. Second Arc grunted as she desperately tried to stay on her feet. Unfortunately for her, Goliad wouldn't let up, sending out additional psi blasts that knocked her further and further away. Eventually, the woman was slammed into the castle's outer wall, groaning weakly, before sliding to the ground and seeming to pass out.

The pink sphinx slowly turned to her brother and creator, a concerned look still upon her face. She quickly used her psychic powers on Stormo, healing all of his internal wounds. The white creature squawked a thanks and got to his feet. PB walked over to her biological 'daughter'.

"Goliad, you…saved us."

The sphinx smiled humbly.

"While me and brother were fighting in our minds, I found some of Finn's memories floating around his subconscious, apparently inherited when he was made. Finn and Jake looked so happy, playing, laughing, and having fun, instead of pointlessly fighting one another."

She gazed at Stormo.

"I don't want to fight my family."

The white sphinx curved his beak into a smile too. PB was touched by the statement, believing that her creation had purified itself, all with the help of the same courageous human boy she had known for so long. The thought also brought sadness, remembering that said young hero was currently brainwashed.

"Finn…" she whispered.

Out of nowhere, a blast of psychic energy struck both candy sphinxes, causing them to jerk before falling to the ground. Peebles cried out in fear as she placed her hand against both their necks. There was still a pulse, but their minds were out cold. A coma, of sorts. The monarch turned around to see Second Arc, still slumped against the wall of the castle and raising her hand to fire another shot at the princess herself.

A beam of energy flew out of the human's palm, about to strike the gummy royal. Slow motion seemed to dominate the area, as PB's mind raced to find a way to block the hit. Her eyed drifted down to the ground, noticing that she was standing on a sewer lid. With one solid hit to the edge with her heel, the metal plate flipped up, whereupon she briskly caught it in her hands and used it as a shield against the attack. The defense worked, protecting her from the impact, but the force still threw her back, where she landed on Stormo's fur, softening the blow.

Upon getting back to her feet, Bubblegum looked over at Second Arc. The woman took a final few moments to try aiming again, before her arm collapsed, out of energy, and her head hung down. PB dashed over across the courtyard, through the crater, and over to where the human was slumped. Kneeling down to examine the woman, Peebles watched as the red circle on her shirt dissipated, returning to the Arc's normal orange.

A minute later, Second Arc's eyes gently opened, also back to their normal tone. She let her sight drift for a bit, before stopping on PB.

"Bonnibel…"

The princess placed her arms around the human, supporting her.

"Ssh, don't talk. You're very badly injured."

The Arc coughed, then shook her head slowly.

"It does not matter. You have to go. Stop the other Arcs. Otherwise, you will never stop Elodeus."

Peebles firmed her expression, looking the woman in the eyes.

"I won't abandon you. You've gone through enough of that in the past. It's time you stopped losing your friends!"

Second Arc was visibly shocked.

"My…friend?"

Bubblegum nodded, letting out a small grin.

"That's right."

The human briefly chuckled, coughing again.

"I will not even bother explaining how that makes no sense, my mind aches immensely at the moment."

PB helped the Arc sit up straighter.

"Hang on, I'll get you some medicine."

Duo shook her head again.

"You don't understand, Bonnie."

She gestured to her lower body. The princess looked down, and was instantly bewildered by the sight. Second Arc's body was fading away, becoming more translucent by the minute. The monarch turned her eyes back to the woman's, an expression of horror on her face.

"What's happening?!"

The human sighed sadly.

"It seems that Elodeus will not tolerate failure."

She raised and looked at her hand, which was also becoming more phantasmal.

"I suppose this is the end."

The Arc let her head fall back to the wall.

"We failed. Every step of the way, we were either hopeless or being used. What a terrible life, wasted."

Suddenly, Bubblegum embraced the woman, startling her with the act and causing the human to gaze upon the pink lady with shock.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

PB pulled back, now visibly with tears in her pained face.

"Duo, you are anything but a waste. You held humanity on its feet, you gifted your knowledge in an attempt to redeem your peoples' actions."

She placed her hands on the woman's shoulders.

"It doesn't matter if you were fooled. The heart and determination you showed was the only thing that represented you, and the other Arcs, as you tried to get humanity's honor back."

She sniffled.

"I don't want you to go. Once we beat Elodeus, and yes, I fully believe we will, I would've loved nothing more than to learn and study from a woman as intelligent as yourself."

Second Arc was stunned, simply gazing back into the wet eyes of the princess.

"Just imagine the good we could've done together. Solved so many problems, improve life, we may have even come up with a true way to cleanse the planet of all its harmful toxins."

At this point, Duo reached up, with great difficulty, and placed her hand over PB's heart. The human smiled, a gentle and gratifying smile.

"Bonnie…thank you."

Her torso was already dispersing into the air. The Arc closed her eyes, now with her own tears leaking out from under the lids.

"Thank you…for being a friend…"

The hand upon PB's chest faded away, leaving the physical realm. The monarch was letting puddles form on the ground by now, her eyes and lips tremble as she watched Second Arc disappear. The woman's dark skin shined in the elegant disassembly of her form, as all that remained was her face. Her expression was calm, as if she was satisfied with how it was ending.

"No! Duo! Duo!"

The Arc vanished entirely, leaving behind only a single tear which fell to the candy floor and soaked right in, staining the sugary dirt a darker shade. Princess Bubblegum let her hands fall to the ground, sobbing quietly as her own tears saturated the earth further.

"You were all alone. You found each other. You were a family. And now…"

She gazed up at the remnants of the human, which consisted of a collection of shimmering particles flying away into the wind.

"…you're leaving them."

A solemn silence took hold, cloaking the despairing monarch with a layer of pain and distaste in the cruelty of the world. Humanity had lived, all this time. Out there, beyond the borders of Ooo, lay many other continents, all of which had the chance for supporting the last survivors of the once great race.

Now, here she was, along with her friends, forced to confront and break down a valued group of individuals, who only wanted to rebirth happiness and prosperity to the land.

_He used them…_

_He manipulated them…_

Her hands tightened into fists.

_He lied and offered fake hope…_

PB slowly got to her feet, head still hung and hands still curled tightly.

_He cast them aside, left for death if they don't satisfy his needs…_

Princess Bubblegum raised her head, looking over to the direction of the grasslands where the vile wizard was still sure to be, plotting the accelerated death of Earth. Her pupils shrunk, her brow shifted downwards, and her teeth bared through her lips.

"Elodeus!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You'll pay for this!"

* * *

A/N: Much better than last week's delay.

DJ Rodriguez: Wow, I made great timing for your day. Good to know.

Fiery Crusader: I know, right. Why can't they make happier episodes like the good old days.

TheMentalAdventurer: And scifi is awesome :)

Fleightfire: Glad to have your support!

OMAC001: Nope, it was just a generic wizard.

I am The7: I have a feeling things will be more evenly matched.


	17. Global Resonance

-Global Resonance-

Previous experience is a lifesaver, especially when failure the next time would result in catastrophe. Marceline kept this in mind as she stayed well above the ground, staring down unwillingly at her opponent. Fifth Arc hadn't changed her expression for the entire time the two girls had been in a deadlock, neither able to strike the other. Thanks to the human's abilities, it was difficult for either fighter to even attempt an approach.

Marcy was busy thinking of a weakness she could use against the Arc; preferably one that wouldn't cause the vampire to permanently put her down. She thought about the results of their first engagement. An up-front fight accomplished nothing, only getting her beaten into submission. Even if she had a way of fighting from a distance, the speed of whatever she fired the human's way would always be slower than her ability to dodge it.

Fifth Arc's hearing would prevent any way of sneaking up on her, removing invisibility as well. She could always shapeshift into a monster to try smacking the Arc, but again, the lack of maneuverability would be more cumbersome than advantageous. Groaning from frustration, Marcy frantically shook her head.

_Why can't I be more resilient like Finn, then I could just go down there and outlast the kid in a fistfight. _

Thinking of the young hero wasn't exactly helpful either. If anything, it made her feel worse. She gazed out over the horizon of the grasslands, wondering where he was now.

"Dang it, weenie, you've beaten the Lich's mind control, why didn't you beat this loser's?"

However, upon thinking it over for a minute, analyzing all the details that Jake had recounted of their battle against the necromancer all that time ago, Marceline nearly gasped as she realized the answer was right in front of her.

_Back then, you had that crush on Bonnie. That sweater, your feelings, they protected you._

She looked back at the darkened border between earth and the heavens, her face set in a saddened frown.

_But now, you had no warmth. To think, if you hadn't let go of Flame Princess, you could've used that passion to ward off Elodeus' corruption._

Absentmindedly, the vampire began playing a solemn tune on her ax bass, trying to move past the depressing thoughts she'd just picked apart to understand. A gentle song drifted into the air, filling the blacked atmosphere with an odd sense of emotion and serenity. As the music continued, Marceline's train of thought shifted. Her strums became harder, her sounds more vigorous. The girl's face was contorted more towards anger than sadness.

"That stupid wizard. I'll guillotine him the second I have the chance!"

The music fully teetered towards a hard note, now a full-on hardrock solo. In the middle of her emotional expulsion, Marcy noticed a different sound mixed into the noise. She glanced down to the ground, where she saw Fifth Arc practically grinding her teeth together as she covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. Marceline was actually a bit offended.

"Aw come on, it's a perfectly good-"

She stopped, staring at the human with a look of realization. Fifth Arc recovered from the music and shook her head, reoriented.

_Her hearing. It's too sensitive__._

She held up her hand, then strung down on her bass to produce the loudest sound she could muster. Fifth Arc actually cried out as she covered her ears again. Marceline briefly contemplated, then divebombed the human, striking another hard note. The Arc was unable to hear her approach, resulting in her getting slugged in the chin by her vampire opponent.

Fifth skidded over the ground, knocked out of orientation further by the blow. Marcy flew at her, struming her bass yet again. This time however, the human girl opened her eyes, and set them directly on the closing vampire. With one lightning fast movement, Marcy was slammed into the ground by a strong ax kick from her foe's heel.

Grunting from the pain, Marceline quickly shifted to her large monstrous form, merely for the sake of having a less ragdoll-like body for Fifth Arc to continue pounding while she was dazed on the ground. Unfortunately, the transformation did, as she feared, reduce her ability to move greatly. On the upside, she couldn't get a good hit on the vampire, rushing to various points along the black, tentacled mass, searching for a place to strike.

Marceline took the opportunity and tried swatting the Arc, but naturally, they were once again at a standstill. She wasn't fast enough to make contact, and the human couldn't fight back either. Sighing and seeing they'd made no progress, Marcy returned to her humanoid form and quickly jetted back into the sky.

Fifth Arc stopped her running and glared up at the vampire, who was rather confused as to what had transpired earlier.

"I don't get it, how did you know I was coming the second time?"

The human pointed to Marcy's bass.

"Sound waves, just like light waves, get compressed or strung out when they move towards or away from you. I might not be able to hear for beans while you're playing that thing, but I can still distinguish a change in tune."

Marceline groaned.

"Jeez, girl. I'm not Bonnie, please don't get all technical on me."

Fifth Arc growled.

"Are you gonna fight or talk?"

Sighing, the vampire brandished her ax bass and eyed her target. She knew it would still be difficult to approach the human, no matter what strategy was used to deafen the girl. On the flip-side, she couldn't keep on taking her sweet time. The other Arcs had to be stopped, and the longer she was stuck fighting Fifth, the worse off her friends would be against the remaining humans.

Marcy took a deep breath, planning her move. She couldn't rely on speed or power. So, that only left one thing, and it was one of her 'best' qualities of all. Trickery.

With a burst of speed, Marceline charged down towards Fifth Arc, who braced herself for a strike. The girl apparently thought she could easily repel whatever her opponent was planning, and so neglected to try dashing away. Regrettably for her, this gave Marcy the upper hand.

With a split-second snap of her fingers, two pairs of bony hands suddenly burst through the ground, grabbing onto Fifth Arc's ankles. The girl was understandably frightened, quickly using her speed to shake the undead limbs off of her. Realizing her focus had been disrupted, the Arc quickly swung her head back to where Marceline was last seen.

Well, she definitely wasn't there now.

The human frantically scanned her surroundings, also listening carefully to detect a potentially invisible foe. However, there was no sound aside from the dying wind. Panicking, Fifth Arc zoomed away, heading to a portion of the grasslands several miles from where she'd been standing in mere seconds.

She took a moment to think, trying to remember anything useful from the profile she'd read on the vampire. Nothing came up. Frustrated, she began to dash back towards the spot of their encounter. Only one thing stopped her; a sudden, and very painful, prick on her skin. She cried out from the pain, losing her footing as she'd already begun running.

The momentum gathered by the girl caused her to impact the ground, scraping along it for a good several feet. She groaned from the hurt then slowly got back to her feet. Another bite kept her on her knees, however. Grunting, Fifth Arc began patting herself all over, trying to figure out what was going on.

It was a minute later that she briefly felt a furry object crawl over her jacket. Freaking out, she immediately threw herself to the ground and starting rolling around, as if on fire. It took a moment, but she heard a definite yelp and something being momentarily squashed underneath her. The Arc growled.

"You! Get off of me!"

Marceline's bat form clung to the human's hood, trying her best to endure the painful effects of being steamrolled. Eventually, she managed to bite the Arc a few more times, outlasting the girl as she quickly got back to her feet, enraged and woozy from all the injuries.

"That's it, you pest!"

She ran off, carving across Ooo's expanse at speeds that Marceline could only dream of. It took all the vampire's strength to hang on to the girl's jacket. The human ran faster and faster, eventually turning the land into nothing but a blur. Marcy only managed to look down, seeing that the green and brown of ground had been replaced by the deep blue of water.

_Jeez, she's already over the ocean!_

Fifth Arc continued the run, attempting to throw the vampire off through the extreme speeds she was attaining. A second later, a boom sounded, signalling that they'd broken the sound barrier. Marcy's entire body felt like it was being compressed, unable to keep up with the air pressure being slammed into her.

Regardless, she knew better than to give up. The Arc was now moving fast enough that only the shifts between land and sea were visible. Even that soon started to blend together. New land formed beneath them, informing Marcy that they were on a different continent. This was a dangerous position, since letting go now would not only be very painful, but also put her at an impossibly attainable distance to get back home.

Fifth Arc didn't seem to figure this out yet, since she could've easily stopped and allowed the staggering inertia to shoot the vampire off of her back. She just kept on running, faster every second. Marceline soon noticed the oceans and land were alternating every few moments, startling her at the speed they had achieved. She wasn't the best at math and such, but guessed that they were now circling the planet every few seconds.

Out of nowhere, the surroundings brightened, blinding Marcy long enough for the world to change. When she next opened her eyes, the environment was bewildering. The sights were no longer blurred, per say, but appeared to be a strange tunnel, through which Fifth Arc seemed to be running at normal human speed.

"What...happened?" the vampire asked in shock.

Her human opponent, unfortunately, looked worried.

"I...I ran so fast...we ended up in a sub-realm of speed."

The bizarre tunnel-like area indeed looked nothing of this world, with random flashes of light streaking by as if they were flying past hundreds of stars. Aside from that, Fifth Arc looked rather panicked.

"Get us out of here!" Marceline begged.

The human shook her head.

"I can't! If I stop suddenly, both of us will be torn apart by the friction."

Marcy groaned.

"Then take it slow!"

The Arc shook her head again.

"I can't! I'm...I'm too scared to focus!"

Marceline had forgotten she was dealing with someone quite young. Fifth Arc looked around twelve or thirteen; certainly not an age that was prepared to deal with a life or death situation. Worried for their survival, she began to come up with a plan. First things first, she used some logic to figure out her maneuverability in the realm. She let go of Fifth Arc, surprisingly not flying off into unknown wastes.

_Like I thought. I'm moving at the same speed, so I can't leave until she slows down._

Marcy looked over at the Arc. Even under Elodeus' control, fear was dominant on her face. It was a sad sight, watching a young girl panic and begin to form tears in her eyes. Suddenly, Marceline saw herself, a thousand years back, alone, in a world that was in chaos. She returned to her humanoid form, frowning at the human.

There had to be a way to stop them, a way to gradually reduce their speed so that neither would be ripped to pieces. Absentmindedly, she reached for her bass, which instantly gave her an idea. The vampire took out her instrument and held it in front of her, struming gently.

"V."

Fifth Arc's attention was drawn, gazing with holding fear at the vampire.

"Please, listen."

She strummed a few more notes, setting the mood and closing her eyes, letting the emotion take over.

_Alone, in a world, that's been turned upside down_

_Here I stand, crying, with a desperate frown_

_No one to love, no one hug, no one's warm hand to hold_

_I was alone..._

_I was alone..._

_Little girl on my own_

Fifth Arc's frightened expression was slowly dying down.

_You were fooled_

_I was ruled_

_By the despair growing in my soul_

_Turned my heart black as coal_

_If only I could, I would reach back and save you from this fate_

_Of lies and hate_

_You were alone..._

_You were alone..._

_Little girl on your own_

The realm's streaking objects were decreasing their speeds, now appearing as elongated lines. Fifth Arc wasn't even blinking as she stared with wetting eyes at Marceline.

_A dear friend lost, a family gone_

_We suffer our endless torment, one frozen in time, and the other a pawn_

_But if the earth has taught me one thing true_

_It's that 'hopes dwells in each, and every...one of you'_

Harmonic strums were calming the surroundings, nearly grinding the sub-realm to a halt. Marcy opened her eyes, now smiling gently at Fifth Arc, who was letting the tears run down her cheeks. The vampire floated closer and brushed them away.

_We were alone..._

_We were alone..._

_Little girls without a home_

Fifth Arc's pace finally met its end. She tripped, whereupon Marceline quickly caught her in her arms as the reality they were trapped in shattered. As Ooo came back into focus, Marcy braced herself, allowing her body to take the pain as she was throw to the ground, sliding along it until their momentum was finally halted. The vampire groaned momentarily, then looked down at the girl curled up on her chest.

The human was sobbing quietly, eyes tightly shut and shivering from the emotional release Marceline's song had caused. The raven-haired girl gently stroked the girl's hair, smoothly shushing her in a compassionate way of calming her.

"It's alright, V."

The red light from the Arc's shirt suddenly faded away, reverting to its yellow normality. Marcy helped herself and Fifth sit up, now knelt on the ground, with the vampires arms around her. The human let her tears fall to the grass, where they soaked into the soil hidden underneath.

"Marceline...you..."

She managed to hold her head up high enough to look the lady in her eyes.

"You lived it too."

The pale-skinned girl nodded.

"Yes. All the fine and heartbreaking details."

She wiped away the last of the tears on the human's face.

"I just wish...that you could've had a better person to offer you hope, like I did."

Fifth Arc let her eyelids fall closed, sniffling one last time.

"Me too. In fact..."

She found the strength to place her own arms around the vampire.

"I wish it would've been you."

Marceline returned the embrace, giving the girl what support she could. The other Arcs had been her family, even after the loss of her own. Thinking about what little she had now, it made the human feel less whole to the vampire.

Literally.

Marcy flung her eyes open and gazed upon the girl's form. Her lower body had already begun fading away.

"V! What's happening to you!"

The human slowly opened her own sight and looked upon her legs and abdomen.

"I guess...I failed him, and this is my punishment."

Marcy looked devastated, as she watched dispersing particles fly off into the wind, each one taking away a piece of Fifth Arc's existence.

"No! This can't be!" Marcy shouted, holding the girl's shoulders tightly.

The human looked back up at her, somehow forcing through a smile. Her hand reached out, grasping Marceline's weakly.

"I may have not had a long run. But at the very least, I'm glad it's ending when I'm not alone."

She noticed the tears now coming out of the immortal's eyes. She tried wiping them away, but her hand was already too intangible to do so.

"Marceline, thank you."

She threw herself into the vampire once more, which she received back in the form of a tight embrace.

"Thank you for showing me I'm not alone, no matter who comes by..."

Marcy felt the disappearance of what she held in her arms. The limbs grasped nothing but air, causing her to fall forward onto her hands and knees. Head raised, the girl gazed up into the dark sky, seeing the final remains of Fifth Arc drift into the heavens.

"V..."

Marcy stood up, shakily, picking up her ax bass in the process. She watched, unmoving, until she could no longer make out the soft shimmer of the human's departing essence. The vampire stood there for a few moments, just staring off into the sky. Eventually though, her hand holding the bass tightened, nearly cracking the instrument's neck.

"She was just a kid..."

Marceline turned around, staring, with a glare, out into the distance. She could barely make out the sight of an abnormal light source on the horizon, where their enemy was up to no good. What the wizard could possibly do to worsen the situation she didn't know. But she also didn't care.

"And you did _that _to her."

She held up her bass, pointing its blades toward the far-off light.

"Mark my words, Elodeus. I'm taking a page out of Finn's book. When we come for you, your evil will fall, and I'll make sure it's slow and painful..."

* * *

A/N: Sweet, on schedule with this one.

TheMentalAdventurer: At least the finale looks exciting.

DJ Rodriguez: Those are very kind words. Thanks.

Fiery Crusader: It's good to be optimistic. Keep on doing so.

I am The7: Well, I guess I kinda answered that.


End file.
